iiiiiir 


l!l><i!I!!!;!n;!l!!i 


ilRiiliinitl 


I 


Psychic    r. 

"^c  power  in 


Spencer, 


/Y^ 


■ 


r  i^ 


*     JUL  10  1909 


PSYCHIC   POWER 


.  SEW'^^ 


IN 


PREACHING 


J.  SPENCER  KENNARD,  D.D. 


Edited  with  Memoir 

by  his  son 

Joseph  Spencer  Kennard 


Philadelphia 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  CO. 

Publishers 


Copyright,  1901,  by 
Gborqs  W.  Jacobs  &  Co. 


CONTENTS 

FAOB 

In  Memoriam vii 

I.    A  Pulpit  of  Power  the  Need  of  the  Times  .  .  i 

II.    Psychic  Power  in  Preaching 15 

III.  The  Personal  Factor  in  Preaching 29 

IV.  Commanding  the  Attention 47 

V.    The  Psychology  of  Style 65 

VI.    The  Psychology  of  Emotion  and  Will  ....  81 

VII.    The  Sermon  in  Action 99 

VIII.    Sympathy  an  Element  of  Psychic  Force  ...  115 

IX.    The  Psychic  Power  of  Authority  and  Love  .  131 

X.    The  Psychic  Power  of  the  Holy  Spirit     .  .   .  147 

XI.    Unrealized  Ideals 173 


In  nDemotiam* 


Hn  fIDemortam, 

IN  the  world  of  literature,  of  politics,  of  government, 
or  of  finance,  when  a  man  has  become  famous, 

has  gained  applause,  has  risen  and  overtopped  his' 
fellows  and  has  become  a  leader,  ruler  or  king,  how 
the  world  is  impressed  with  his  personality,  how  filled 
with  comment  at  his  passing  from  this  life  to  that 
which  is  beyond  the  grave  !  Yet  when  he  is  weighed 
there,  in  the  balances  of  God,  how  small  may  be  his 
soul,  how  pitiful  appear  his  character  ! 

Judged  even  by  the  world's  standard.  Dr.  Kennard 
was  a  distinguished  man.  As  a  pulpit-orator,  as  the 
loved  pastor  of  prominent  city  churches,  as  an  earn- 
est patriot,  as  a  writer,  as  an  evangelist,  winning 
souls;  his  name  is  known,  his  reputation  is  estab- 
lished. This  memoir,  however,  is  not  a  panegyric.  It 
purposes  to  give,  very  simply  and  very  briefly,  the 
record  of  a  heart  made  great  by  goodness.  It  is  a 
tribute  to  a  life  filled  with  noble  purpose  and  radiating 
blessing  upon  his  fellow-men.  It  is  just  one  more 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  God's  word  that  "  they  that 
be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament, 
and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as  the  stars 
for  ever  and  ever. ' ' 

Because  the  life  and  work  of  this  man  so  eminently 
exemplified  this  wisdom  and  brightened  his  crown 
with  so  many  stars,  a  short  account  of  that  life  and 
work  should  be  the  most  valuable  chapter  in  a  book 

(vii) 


Viii  IN  MEMORIAM. 

whose  aim  and  purpose  is  to  help  those  who  would 
win  souls. 

Joseph  Spencer  Kennard  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
September  24,  1833.  There  his  ancestors  had  lived 
from  before  the  days  of  Penn,  They  had  occupied 
prominent  positions  in  the  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey  Colonies,  and  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  they 
were  leaders  of  men  and  patriots.  In  his  long  ministry  in 
Philadelphia  his  father,  Joseph  Hugg  Kennard,  D.D., 
an  ambassador  of  heaven,  was  greatly  honored  of 
God  and  men.  There  his  son,  Joseph  Spencer,  was 
dedicated  to  the  I^ord  at  the  time  of  his  birth.  Under 
the  care  of  parents  who  were  remarkable  for  their 
strong  spiritual  nature,  he  developed  a  fine  inward 
sensibility,  which,  grafted  on  an  ardent  temperament, 
gave  to  his  whole  life  among  men  an  undertone  caught 
up  in  his  musings  upon  the  deep  mysteries  of  Man  and 
Eternity  and  God  :  an  undertone  now  joyous,  anon 
sad ;  as,  indeed,  the  contemplative  soul  is  alternately 
lifted  to  sunlit  heights  and  depressed  to  the  abysses. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  experienced  conver- 
sion, and  received  baptism  at  his  father's  hands  in 
the  Tenth  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia.  At  school 
this  profession  of  religion  brought  upon  him  ridi- 
cule from  some  of  his  fellows  there ;  but  his  bright, 
sunny  disposition,  springing  from  a  singularly  beauti- 
ful soul,  his  uncompromising  moral  earnestness,  needed 
no  defense  against  their  taunts.  He  was  a  natural 
orator,  having  a  clear,  powerful  and  perfectly  modu- 
lated voice,  graceful  movements,  a  good  command  of 
language  and  a  certain  impetuousness  of    delivery 


IN  MEMORIAM.  ix 

which  visibly  proceeded  from  inward  conviction.  This 
boy  was  father  of  the  man.  While  he  was  a  pupil  in 
the  Philadelphia  High  School  he,  with  seven  fellow- 
students,  who,  like  himself  at  that  time,  were  looking 
forward  to  a  career  in  the  L,aw,  formed  the  Forensic 
Society.  Among  the  first  members  of  this  society  were 
several  youths  who  afterward  rose  to  eminence  in  vari- 
ous callings  :  Judge  James  T.  Mitchell,  of  Philadel- 
phia ;  William  T.  Richards,  the  marine  painter ; 
Frank  Stockton,  the  novelist,  and  George  Reshe.  As 
a  tribute  to  his  high  scholarship  and  character  on 
graduating  from  the  High  School  he  was  chosen  vale- 
dictorian, both  by  vote  of  his  class  and  desire  of  his 
teachers. 

He  then  entered  Lewisburg  (now  Bucknell)  Uni- 
versity, in  the  Senior  Class.  Shortly  after  entering 
he  decided  to  fit  himself  for  a  career  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Gospel.  Through  all  his  life  thereafter  there 
remained  vivid  in  his  mind  the  memory  of  certain 
passages  of  his  spiritual  experience  in  the  retirement 
of  his  closet  at  the  University,  in  which  he  was  favored 
with  sensible  manifestations  of  the  Divine  Presence. 
The  youth  had  in  these  Divine  visitations  assurance, 
which  he  never  lost  and  never  forfeited,  that  he  was 
chosen  to  be  a  Vessel  of  Election  and  a  messenger 
from  God  to  the  souls  of  men.  That  assurance,  that 
conviction,  was  as  deeply  and  as  firmly  rooted  then 
and  thenceforth  in  his  consciousness  as  the  sense  of 
his  own  being  ;  it  was  part  of  himself  ;  nay,  it  was  the 
principle  and  prime-motor  of  his  life,  of  his  personality  ; 
indeed,  this  is  a  Man  sent  of  God,  or  he  is  naught ! 


X  IN  MEMORIAM. 

He  is  still  a  youth,  a  novice ;  but  already  he 
recognizes  in  its  full  measure  the  grandeur  and  the 
holiness  of  his  vocation.  In  a  letter  to  his  mother, 
from  Lewisburg,  he  writes  : 

I  was  sitting  in  my  study,  and  I  know  not  how  it 
was,  but  I  am  sure  that  God  has  visited  me.  My  soul 
was  baptized  in  the  glory  of  God.  I  was  thinking  on 
prayer,  on  intimate  communion  with  Him,  and  of 
the  glory  of  the  redemption  which  Christ  has  pur- 
chased ;  the  completeness  of  the  righteousness  with 
which  sinners  such  as  I  am  are  invested  in  Christ ;  the 
reality  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ ;  the  reality  of 
the  promises ;  the  certainty  of  their  fulfillment ;  the 
amazing,  the  overwhelming  reality  of  my  being  per- 
mitted to  come  right  into  the  presence  of  the  great 
God  :  so  near, — so  near  and  to  meet  smiles — only 
smiles  and  arms  of  love  extended  to  vie.  The  three 
Blessed  ones  seemed  to  stand  around,  inviting  my 
petitions.  The  Father,  from  whom  I  have  gone  like  a 
prodigal ;  the  Saviour,  whom  I  have  crucified,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whom  I  have  grieved.  Why  those  floods 
of  joy  ?  I  heard  the  precious  words,  "  Ask  what  thou 
wilt."  "(9,  then,  give  7ne  love  for  souls.''  This  is 
what  I  want.  Oh,  Saviour,  who  died  for  sinners ! 
Oh,  Father,  that  would  not  that  any  should  perish  ! 
Oh,  Spirit  of  Grace,  who  loveth  to  lead  souls  to 
heaven,  give  me  this  burnings  impelling  love  for  souls, 
lost  souls  ! 

Again  he  writes: 

When  I  hear  of  my  friends  being  instrumental 
in  the  conversion  of  sinners  it  makes  me  long  to  be 
engaged  in  the  blessed  work  ;  I  am  impatient  to  be 
about  my  Master's  work  ;  yet,  alas  !  how  unfit  I  am  ! 
My  constant  prayer  is  that  God  will  make  me  an  in- 
strument for  some  good. 


IN   MEMORIAM.  JU 

He  entered  Princeton  Seminary  in  1854,  and  re- 
mained there  two  years.  He  viewed  the  time  he 
was  to  spend  in  the  seminary  as  a  season  for  diHgent 
study  of  the  Sacred  Sciences,  and  of  the  art  of  Apos- 
tolical preaching,  as  also  for  disciplining  his  own  will 
to  make  it  in  all  things  obedient  to  God's  will,  and 
himself  a  fit  instrument  to  God's  hand  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry.  A  letter  written  by  him  to  his  mother 
about  this  time  shows  that  he  was  already  engaged  in 
the  study  of  the  same  problem  which  occupied  his 
mind  and  his  pen  up  to  the  close  of  his  life — the  Phi- 
losophy of  Preaching — touching  which  this  present 
volume  is  proof  that  he  studied  that  problem  to  some 
purpose.  But  the  letter  shows  that  he  was  at  the 
same  time  contemplating  the  whole  field  of  evangeli- 
cal labor  with  a  view  to  discover  wherein  the  defenses 
of  the  Church  most  needed  strengthening.  Mean- 
while his  own  spiritual  growth  must  not  be  neglected, 
and  he  searches  his  heart  to  find  out  what  hindrances 
might  there  exist  to  the  inflow  of  God's  grace  for  his 
own  sanctification  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  He 
writes: 

Since  I  have  been  here  my  ideas  in  regard  to  what 
is  eminently  desirable  in  the  education  of  a  minister 
"  that  needeth  not  be  ashamed  "  have  been  enlarged, 
so  that  I  have  resolved  to  make  myself  master  of  the 
philosophy  of  the  composition  and  delivery  of  ser- 
mons, and  also  to  make  myself  acquainted  thoroughly 
with  Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  history  in  all  its  de- 
partments, and  with  Hebrew  and  Greek  Criticisms,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  meet  and  refute,  if  circumstances 
require,  the  cavils  of  learned  skeptics. 


Xll  IN  MEMORIAM. 

I  have  been  reading  in  the  letters  and  journal  of 
Henry  Marty n,  and  the  example  of  that  holy  man  has 
been  like  a  great  light  to  make  my  own  darkness  visi- 
ble. I  think  my  heart  has  been  in  some  degree  hum- 
bled— for  whereof  have  I  to  boast  ?  Were  I  the  holi- 
est of  God's  creatures,  it  would  be  surely  of  grace.  I 
enjoy  near  access  to  God  at  the  throne  of  grace ;  I 
feel  reluctant  to  leave  the  mercy  seat.  God's  word 
has  an  especial  interest  for  me.  Whenever  I  read  its 
pages  I  feel  a  thrill  of  delight,  and  when  I  meditate 
on  its  precious  words  of  encouragement  and  love,  so 
peculiarly  adapted  to  my  condition,  my  heart  is  melted 
in  tenderness,  and  a  joy  such  as  I  experienced  when 
first  I  realized  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  only  a  sublimer 
and  purer  joy,  reigns  in  my  heart. 

My  plan  of  living,  for  the  most  part,  is  this:  I 
rise  before  light,  from  half -past  four  o'clock  to  six  ;  I 
spend  some  time  in  study  and  one-half  hour  in  devo- 
tion, which  is  very  sweet  to  my  soul.  Then  I  take  a 
walk  of  about  two  miles.  In  my  walk  I  select  some 
subject  for  meditation,  and  I  find  this  very  profitable. 
I  return  to  breakfast ;  after  breakfast,  study  until  reci- 
tations. The  inter\'^ening  time  until  dinner  I  spend 
in  devotion.  The  afternoon  I  spend  in  the  prepara- 
tion and  recitation  of  Homiletics  and  Greek  exegesis. 
Evening  chapel  prayers  follow  immediately  the  recita- 
tions. After  supper  I  generally  spend  in  some  prayer 
meeting,  or  committee,  or  society. 

Oh  that  God  would  enable  me,  in  future,  to  keep 
constantly  in  view  the  one  and  only  object  of  all  my 
study  and  all  my  labors,  His  glory  and  the  salvation 
of  souls! 

Oh,  come,  thou  mighty  wind  ;  come.  Holy  Spirit, 
and  waft  me  onward  and  higher,  and  still  higher,  till 
my  entire  self  shall  be  absorbed  in  the  glory  of  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness!  lyike  Him,  to  be  meek  and  lowly  ; 
like  Him,  to  be  crucified  to  the  world  ;  like  Him,  if 


IN  MEMORIAM.  xill 

need  be,  crucified  for  the  world  ;  like  Him,  to  weep 
for  sinners  ;  like  Him,  to  say,"  not  my  will,  O  Father, 
but  thine  be  done."  Oh!  to  have  no  thought  but 
' '  Christ  Crucified  !  "  To  have  no  ambition  but  to 
win  souls  to  heaven  ! 

Ah  !  my  dear  mother,  I  feel  that  prayers,  and 
strong  cryings,  and  tears,  and  fastings,  and  abase- 
ment, and  self -mortification,  and  self-examination, 
and  fierce  conflicts  with  myself  and  the  buffetings  of 
satan,  all,  all  !  are  not  too  great  a  price  to  pay  for  such 
glorious  transformation — likeness  to  Jesus, 

So  eagerly  did  he  pursue  his  studies  in  the  sem- 
inary that  his  health  failed  him,  and  for  a  while 
he  traveled  in  Canada,  accompanied  by  his  friend, 
De  Witt  Taylor.  Having  been  licensed  to  preach,  he 
made  a  missionary  tour  as  agent  of  the  American  Sun- 
day School  Union,  preaching  and  founding  Sunday 
Schools.  He  also,  while  at  the  seminary,  for  some 
time  preached  in  the  Bordentown  (N.  J.)  Baptist 
Church,  In  1856,  when  his  course  of  studies  was 
completed,  he  received  calls  from  two  churches,  one 
from  the  First  Germantown  Church,  Philadelphia ; 
the  other  from  the  Bridgeton  (N,  J.)  Baptist  Church  ; 
this  he  decided  to  accept,  and  December  23,  1856,  in 
the  Tenth  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia,  of  which  his 
father  was  pastor,  he  was  ordained  to  the  Gospel  min- 
istry, and  to  that  charge.  Thus  did  he  enter  on  his 
labors,  which  through  a  long  life  were  never  inter- 
mitted save  for  necessary  rest. 

It  was  in  Bridgeton  that  he  first  met  his  future  wife, 
Nancy  Reed  Jeffers,  whom  he  married  in  1858.  She 
was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  beautiful  girls,  and 


XIV  IN  MEMORIAM. 

was  endowed  with  every  gift  and  grace  that  could 
make  her  the  meet  life-companion  and  helper  of  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel ;  in  his  labors  he  was  ever  sustained 
by  her  counsel,  as  well  as  by  her  active  cooperation. 

With  a  deep  sense  of  the  responsibilities  of  his 
oflSce  and  of  the  importance  of  redeeming  the  time,  he 
went  about  his  labors  in  this  his  first  pastoral  field. 
In  his  journal  of  that  time  he  is  seen  to  be  constantly 
struggling  with  what  he  calls  his  besetting  sin,  waste 
of  time  ;  though  in  addition  to  the  duties  of  his 
Bridgeton  pastorate,  he  imposed  upon  himself  the  bur- 
den of  mission  labors  at  places  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  town.  At  one  of  these  outlying  stations  he 
conducted  meetings  almost  every  night  for  two  or 
three  months.  In  Bridgeton  he  set  on  foot  sundry 
movements  that  went  beyond  the  conventional  limits 
of  his  Baptist  pastorate,  and  were  non-sectarian  or 
inter-denominational.  Thus,  he  organized  a  Bridgeton 
branch  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  ;  he 
induced  the  churches  to  join  in  weekly  union  prayer 
meetings  ;  once  he  prevailed  upon  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town  to  give  up  to  prayer  and  fasting  one  whole 
day  ;  on  that  day  every  place  of  business  in  Bridgeton 
was  closed,  and  the  city  was,  so  to  speak,  on  its  knees. 
A  memorable  revival  of  religion  followed.  Hardly  less 
worthy  of  note  was  another  innovation  wrought  by  the 
young  minister — namely,  that  of  ministers  of  different 
denominations  uniting  in  meeting  at  their  respective 
homes  for  social  converse.  And  it  was  he  that  founded 
the  Bridgeton  Conference  of  Baptist  Ministers. 

He  stayed  three  years  in  Bridgeton,  and  there  his 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XV 

eldest  son  and  namesake  was  born.  In  September, 
1859,  having  resigned  that  pastorate,  he  assumed  the 
charge  of  the  E  Street  Baptist  Church,  Washington 
City. 

The  change  from  the  quiet  of  an  inland  town  to 
the  turmoil  of  the  national  capital  was  revolutionary. 
John  Brown's  raid  occurred  between  Mr.  Kennard's 
acceptance  of  the  call  and  his  removal.  If  the  whole 
country  was  electrified  with  suppressed  excitement, 
Washington  was  the  storm  centre,  and  one  could 
scarcely  mention  the  dangerous  topic  without  causing 
an  ominous  flash.  The  spiritual  atmosphere  was  cold. 
People  were  more  anxious  about  the  condition  of  the 
country  than  the  state  of  the  church.  At  E  Street,  as 
in  many  other  churches,  there  were  many  Southern- 
ers, and  a  strong  Southern  sentiment  before  the  elec- 
tion of  Lincoln.  Truly,  there  were  lions  in  the  path 
of  the  loyal  j'oung  minister.  He  and  his  charming 
wife  were  received  with  a  generous  welcome  by  ' '  Old 
Washington"  society.  He  was  asked  to  accept  the 
nomination  for  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, an  honor  which  he  declined  on  account  of  the 
necessary'  electioneering.  Ushered  into  the  sophisti- 
cated life  of  a  great  city,  his  first  battle  was  in 
the  cause  of  Temperance.  In  the  years  before  the 
"Women's  Temperance  Crusade"  only  a  few  inde- 
pendent and  hardy  souls  dreamed  of  advocating  total 
abstinence,  but  Kennard  and  his  wife  were  among  the 
few.  In  writing  to  his  father  during  those  early  days 
he  says  : 

I  shall  find  it  painful  to  maintain  my  principles 


Xvi  IN  MEMORIAM. 

in  regard  to  temperance  here.  The  fact  is,  they  have 
wine  everywhere  you  go,  and  everybody  drinks.  The 
most  sober  and  excellent  members  of  the  church,  dea- 
cons included,  think  nothing   of   it.     They  think    it 

strange  I  do  not  drink,  as did  without  hesitation, 

and  expressed  himself  as  doing  it  because  we  ought  to 
enjoy  all  the  good  things  which  our  Heavenly  Father 
gives  us,  and  be  grateful  for  them.     Since  I  have  come 

has  not  drunk  at  any  of  the  companies  where  we 

have  been  together.  I  must  and  will  lift  up  my  voice 
against  it.  Every  day  I  become  more  firm  and  deter- 
mined in  my  principles.  I  have  told  them  plainly, 
though  kindly,  that  I  am,  from  the  crown  of  my  head 
to  the  soles  of  my  feet,  an  out-and-out  temperance 
man  ;  that  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  the  drinking  prac- 
tices of  society. 

In  the  early  days  of  his  ministry  he  found  one 
of  his  most  loved  and  valued  friends  in  the  Hon. 
A.mos  Kendall  (Jackson's  Postmaster-General),  one  of 
Washington's  most  distinguished  citizens.  The  grand 
old  man  was  immediately  attracted  by  the  young 
fellow  of  twenty-six,  to  whom  life  was  at  once  so  beau- 
tiful and  so  solemn.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the 
church,  but  contributed  largely  to  its  support,  and 
considered  the  young  minister  his  special  protege. 
In  their  correspondence  of  later  years  Mr.  Kendall's 
letters  were  always  characterized  by  a  fatherly  solici- 
tude, which  was  not  hidden  by  his  old-fashioned,  dig- 
nified reserve. 

After  the  installation  of  President  I^incoln  there 
was  an  exodus  of  Southerners  from  the  city,  the  E 
Street  Church  losing  some  of  its  strongest  supporters. 

The  news  of   the  fall   of   Fort  Sumter  reached 


IN    MRMORIAM.  XVll 

Washington  on  a  Sunday  just  before  the  hour  of  the 
morning  service.  This  was  war  !  The  city  was  dazed 
and  frightened  ;  but  to  one  man  the  immediate  duty 
seemed  perfectly  direct  and  plain  ;  he  determined  to 
declare  his  position  that  morning.  At  the  close  of  the 
services  the  pastor  of  the  E  Street  Church  spoke  of 
the  surrender,  and  urged  his  church  to  rally  to  the 
support  of  the  government.  After  a  moment  of 
silence,  the  Southerners  left  their  seats  and  went  out. 

What  with  the  general  turmoil  in  the  city,  what 
with  the  falling  away  of  the  Southern  membership,  the 
resources  of  the  church  were  desperately  impaired  ;  it 
was  unable  to  pay  the  pastor's  salary,  yet  never  was 
need  of  a  shepherd  more  pressing.  Mr.  Kennard 
applied  in  May  for  a  position  in  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment, which  he  immediately  obtained.  For  a  number 
of  months  he  spent  six  hours  a  daj^  signing  Treasury 
notes,  and  gave  the  remaining  hours  to  the  work  of 
the  church,  visiting  the  sick  and  attending  funerals 
after  four  in  the  afternoon.  While  the  church  was 
united  in  love  of  the  pastor,  sectional  feeling  was  too 
strong  to  be  subdued  or  ignored.  After  a  meeting,  in 
which  a  majority  refused  to  receive  Northerners  as 
members  of  the  church,  he  sorrowfully  resigned  his 
charge.  Soon  after  his  resignation  a  large  number  of 
the  loyal  members  went  out  and  formed  a  new  church. 

The  pastorship  was  offered  to  Mr.  Kennard,  but 
his  health  was  so  much  impaired  that  he  could  not 
accept  the  charge,  though  he  agreed  to  serve  tem- 
porarily. 

But  the  clash  of  arms  had  an  echo  in  the  new 


Xviii  IN  MEMORIAM. 

church.  In  the  Union  prayer  meeting,  too,  there  was 
so  much  hesitation  about  mentioning  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  day  that  Mr.  Kennard  wrote  the  leaders 
that  he  could  not  have  any  part  in  the  services  unless 
he  were  free  to  ' '  pray  for  the  country. ' '  He  was  often 
on  the  field  of  battle  with  the  Christian  Commission, 
and  ministered  to  the  sick  and  dying  soldiers.  At 
home  he  was  continually  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
horrors  of  war.  At  last,  in  October,  he  left  the  scene 
of  conflict  for  New  England,  and  settled  in  Woburn, 
Massachusetts. 

The  church  at  Woburn  was  strong,  spiritual, 
peaceful  and  united,  and  after  the  turmoil  and  anxieties 
of  his  Washington  pastorate,  Mr.  Kennard  was  greatly 
cheered  by  the  abundant  fruits  of  his  labors  there. 
Here  his  extraordinary  spiritual  force  and  sweet  per- 
suasiveness won  all  hearts,  and  through  hearts  his 
words  found  access  to  souls.  Soon  after  his  settle- 
ment in  the  town  a  revival  in  the  church  resulted  in  a 
great  harvest  of  converts. 

The  pastor  records  in  his  Journal,  "never  so 
happy  and  never  so  much  real  satisfaction  in  m)- 
work."  With  the  exception  of  an  occasional  visit 
from  neighboring  pastors,  he  carried  on  the  work 
alone.  From  Mr.  Kendall  he  received  frequent  reports 
of  the  new  Calvary  Church,  in  Washington,  estab- 
lished by  Mr.  Kennard.  To-day  the  church  stands 
as  a  beautiful  memorial  of  the  courage  of  that  little 
Gideon's  band,  as  well  as  of  the  generosity  of  Amos 
Kendall. 

While  in  the  midst  of  his  labors  in  Woburn,  Mr. 


IN  MEMORIAM.  «X 

Kennard  received  what  he  considered  an  imperative 
call  to  ser\'-e  his  country  in  the  army.  The  nation  was 
passing  through  her  darkest  hours.  Volunteers  were 
no  longer  ready  to  fill  the  breaches  made  by  disastrous 
battles.  The  draft  raised  a  tempest  of  indignation, 
of  which  the  riots  in  New  York  were  only  a  partial 
expression.  Mr.  Kennard  attended  many  public  meet- 
ings, and  spoke  earnestly  in  behalf  of  the  government. 
His  eloquence  had  much  effect  in  changing  the  current 
of  popular  feeling,  and  his  words  were  emphasized 
by  the  news  that  he  himself  had  been  drafted.  The 
people  protested,  but  he  insisted  upon  going  to  the 
front.  As  he  had  said,  ' '  Every  man  should  consider 
the  draft  the  call  of  God  to  service. ' '  This  was  the 
occasion  of  a  beautiful  act  of  self-sacrifice  on  the  part 
of  one  of  the  members  of  his  church,  who  presented 
himself  at  the  pastor's  study  early  on  the  morning  after 
the  news  had  been  received.  ' '  Pastor, ' '  he  said,  ' '  you 
must  not  go.  Your  work  here  is  too  important.  My  wife 
and  I  have  been  praying  over  this  matter  all  night, 
and  I  have  decided  to  go  in  your  stead."  A  little 
later  the  venerable  Deacon  Converse,  who  had  been 
confined  to  the  house  for  many  months,  appeared  at 
the  door  and  repeated,  "  Pastor,  you  cannot  go.  I  will 
send  a  substitute  in  your  stead. ' '  But  though  his  heart 
was  deeply  touched  by  their  devotion,  the  pastor's  res- 
olution was  unshaken.  When  the  time  arrived  for  the 
physical  examination  he  set  out  for  Lawrence.  In  the 
evening  a  crestfallen  ' '  conscript ' '  came  home  with 
patriotism  as  strong  as  ever,  but  somewhat  less  buoy- 
ant.    Kennard  had  been  refused  on  account  of  "  deli- 


XX  IN  MEMORIAM, 

cacy  of  physical  organization. ' '  In  the  words  of  the 
physician,  ' '  he  might  last  three  months,  but  not  longer, 
and  would  cost  the  government  more  than  he  was 
worth. ' ' 

The  climate  of  Woburn  was  severe,  and  each  winter 
he  seemed  less  able  to  withstand  its  rigors.  After  a 
vacation  to  recuperate  his  health,  he  returned  to  his 
field  in  Woburn  and  renewed  his  pastoral  work,  but 
continued  to  suffer  with  his  throat.  He  was  urged  by 
his  physician  and  family  to  go  to  a  milder  climate, 
and  in  September  he  accepted  a  call  to  Calvary 
Church,  of  Albany,  and  in  December  became  its  pas- 
tor. The  pastorate  in  Albany  was  one  of  unalloyed 
happiness.  Almost  immediately  after  his  settlement 
there  the  church  received  a  great  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  many  souls  were  brought  to  Christ. 
Ninety-six  were  baptized  that  winter.  The  church 
also  received  large  additions  by  letter,  and  its  strength 
was  nearly  doubled. 

Two  of  Mr.  Kennard's  old  friends  had  followed  him 
to  Albany — De  Witt  Taylor,  the  friend  of  his  boy- 
hood and  youth,  and  John  B.  Mulford,  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  became  superintendent  of  the  Sunday 
School. 

That  same  summer  his  father,  Dr.  Joseph  Hugg 
Kennard,  pastor  of  the  Tenth  Baptist  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, who  had  been  its  pastor  since  its  formation, 
in  1838,  died.  For  his  successor  the  "  Old  Tenth  " 
chose,  as  of  course,  the  son.  Only  sixteen  months 
had  Mr.  Kennard  been  pastor  of  the  Albany  church, 
but  already  he  was  held  fast  to  it  by  many  spiritual 


IN  MEMORIAM.  Xxi 

ties,  and  the  alternative  of  severing  these  or  of  reject- 
ing the  affectionate  call  of  his  beloved  father's  children 
in  Christ  was  for  him  an  exquisitely  painful  trial. 
The  Albany  church  protested  against  his  leaving,  and 
only  after  repeated  appeals  from  their  pastor  would 
they  consent  to  accept  his  resignation.  The  long-cher- 
ished wish  and  hope  of  his  father  and  the  kindly,  affec- 
tionate invitation  of  the  Philadelphia  church  prevailed. 
The  ' '  Old  Tenth, ' '  under  the  ministry  of  the  elder 
Dr.  Kennard,  was  a  church  ever  alive,  always  "in 
revival  " ;  its  spiritual  life  never  intermitted,  but  was 
always  as  a  strong,  steady  flame.  His  son  was  not 
the  man  to  suffer  the  sacred  fire  to  die  out;  it  glowed 
and  flamed  in  his  own  soul;  and  thence  it  radiated 
through  the  church  and  beyond  the  bounds  of  the 
church,  even  into  the  outer  darkness  of  vagrancy  and 
godlessness.  Being  touched  by  the  forlorn  condition 
of  the  human  wastrels  issuing  from  the  station-houses 
on  Sunday  mornings,  with  no  place  to  turn  to  but  the 
drink-shops,  Mr.  Kennard  proposed  to  his  members 
to  invite  them  to  a  "  Sunday  Breakfast."  A  hall  was 
opened,  where  a  hot  breakfast  was  served  each  Sunday 
morning  to  a  forlorn  company  gathered  from  the 
various  station-houses.  After  the  poor  fellows  had 
been  warmed  and  fed,  they  were  glad  to  listen  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  meeting  which  fol- 
lowed. Many  of  these  men  were  converted,  many 
were  saved  from  the  curse  of  intemperance;  and,  with 
some  interruptions,  the  Sunday  breakfasts  have  been 
continued  ever  since  that  time,  and  are  one  of  Phila- 
delphia's institutions  to-day. 


XXll  IN  MEMORIAM. 

As  the  city  was  at  this  time  growing  rapidly 
toward  the  northwest,  Mr.  Kennard  realized  the  need 
of  church  extension  in  that  direction,  and  opened  a  mis- 
sion Sunday  School,  to  which  was  given  the  name  of 
' '  The  Kennard  Mission. ' '  From  this  lowly  beginning 
sprung  what  is  now  one  of  the  most  notable  institu- 
tional churches  in  America — Grace  Church,  known  as 
"The  Temple,"  with  its  college,  hospital  and  other 
annexes — a  noble  monument  to  the  pastoral  zeal,  the 
indomitable  enterprise  and  the  administrative  ability 
of  Dr.  Russell  H.  Con  well. 

After  this  Dr.  Kennard  was  for  five  years  pastor 
of  the  Pilgrim  Church,  in  New  York  City,  and  in  that 
period  his  labors  were  rewarded  with  conversions  to 
the  number  of  over  three  hundred.  When,  in  1875, 
Mr.  Moody  was  holding  that  wonderful  series  of 
meetings  at  the  Hippodrome,  Dr.  Kennard  was  his 
efficient  co-laborer.  He  and  his  wife  were  constantly  at 
work  in  the  inquiry  room;  and  in  the  auditorium  itself 
his  exhortations  and  his  prayers  were  blessed  by  the 
conversion  of  souls.  Of  all  those  who  spoke,  no  voice 
surpassed  his  in  the  power  of  reaching  the  utmost 
comers  of  the  hall. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Kennard' s  residence  in  New 
York  the  Baptist  denomination  was  passing  through  a 
very  critical  period  in  its  history.  Owing  to  the  great 
intellectual  activity  of  the  past  century,  there  has  been 
a  growing  tendency  to  question  all  religious  creeds. 
No  branch  of  the  church  has  been  free  from  the  strug- 
gle between  the  iconoclasts  on  the  one  hand,  who 
attacked  long  established  doctrines  and  usages,  and 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XXlll 

the  conservatives  on  the  other,  who  believed  them- 
selves defenders  of  the  faith.  The  Baptists  have 
suffered  less  than  others  from  these  contentions  owing 
to  their  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment. In  the  seventies,  however,  quite  a  storm  was 
raised  over  the  communion  question.  The  conserva- 
tive element  in  the  church  suddenly  awakened  to  the 
fact  that  among  the  younger  ministers  was  a  growing 
disposition  to  forsake  the  time-honored  custom  of 
limiting  the  invitation  to  the  Lord's  Supper  to  "  mem- 
bers of  the  churches  of  the  same  faith  and  order." 
The  theological  position  of  the  Baptists  on  the  subject 
of  "  believer's  baptism  "  and  immersion  was  never  dis- 
puted; but  the  corollary  that  only  such  "baptized" 
believers  were  to  be  admitted  to  communion  at  the 
Lord's  Table,  thus  depriving  them  of  fellowship  with 
Christians  of  other  denominations,  found  many  dis- 
senters. The  Church  in  England  had  always  taken  a 
liberal  view  of  the  subject,  and  a  small  section  of  the 
denomination  in  America  was  distinguished  by  the 
title  "Freewill  Baptists,"  because  of  its  open  Com- 
munion position  ;  but  such  had  not  been  the  general 
feeling  in  this  country.  The  merits  of  the  discussion 
have  no  place  in  this  sketch.  Neither  party  to  the 
controversy  was  willing  to  yield  in  a  matter  of  con- 
science. A  number  of  valuable  men  left  the  denomi- 
nation, and  there  was  danger  of  an  irreconcilable 
division  in  the  ranks. 

But  the  day  was  saved  by  the  wisdom  and  courage 
of  a  few  men  who  could  see  both  sides  and  were  not 
afraid  to  stand  for  justice  and  liberty  as  against  party 


XXIV  IN  MEMORIAM. 

feeling.  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  Dr.  Kennard,  Dr.  Neale 
and  a  few  others  believed  that  the  Baptist  doctrine  of 
soul  liberty  was  of  greater  importance  than  any  dogma 
concerning  the  order  of  the  sacraments,  however 
logically  derived.  While  unflinchingly  loyal  to  the 
faith  of  the  Fathers,  they  set  themselves  determinedly 
lagainst  the  spirit  of  ecclesiarchical  coercion  then  ram- 
pant. At  no  small  cost  to  themselves,  they  kept  firm 
hold  of  the  denominational  helm  until  the  ship  should 
right  herself.  The  contest  was  long  and  bitter.  The 
question  then  at  issue  was  not  settled.  It  probably 
will  remain  a  subject  for  discussion  for  many  years  to 
come,  but  it  will  never  again  become  a  matter  of 
church  discipline  or  threaten  the  solidarity  of  the 
denomination. 

The  strong  reaction  of  his  sensitive  spirit  after  the 
theological  controversy  resulted  in  great  nervous  ex- 
haustion. This  was  increased  by  partial  sunstroke, 
and  his  apparently  failing  health  caused  anxiety  to 
his  family. 

In  August,  1878,  his  health  being  restored,  he 
accepted  a  call  from  the  Central  Square  Baptist 
Church,  East  Boston,  and  held  that  charge  for  three 
years,  during  which  he  devoted  much  of  his  time  to 
the  study,  critical  and  historical,  of  Buddhism  and 
other  Oriental  religions:  one  essay  of  his,  of  consider- 
able compass,  upon  the  life  of  Buddha,  won  favorable 
notice  among  European  as  well  as  American  scholars. 
In  this  period,  also,  it  was  that  he  commenced  a  series 
of  articles  on  Pulpit  Eloquence,  out  of  which  grew,  or 
rather  which  grew  into,    the   present   treatise.      In 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XXV 

recognition  of  these  valuable  contributions  to  the 
sacred  sciences  and  literature  of  theology,  pure  and 
applied,  Madison  (now  Colgate)  University  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

He  was  chosen  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Baptist  Church, 
Chicago,  in  January,  1882.  There  the  larger  oppor- 
tunities for  work  afforded  by  a  great  city  were  again 
his,  and  his  vigor  of  body  and  mind  was  more  than 
restored.  In  his  journal  he  says:  "  My  health  at  51 
is  apparently  better  than  at  21."  Certainly  he  had 
greater  power  of  endurance.  The  church  building 
was  inadequate  in  size,  comfort  and  attractiveness  to 
the  needs  of  the  congregation,  but  the  people  were 
alert,  zealous  in  good  works  and  devoted  to  the  pastor. 
Soon  after  coming  to  the  city,  Mrs.  Kennard,  who  had 
always  been  interested  in  practical  temperance  work, 
opened  a  mission  on  South  Halsted  street.  From  this 
mission  reformed  men  were  from  time  to  time  brought 
into  the  church,  and  were  most  kindly  received.  Some 
of  these  men  have  become  active  Christian  workers, 
and  one  is  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel. 

For  a  number  of  jj-ears  Dr.  Kennard  had  felt 
himself  called  to  preach  the  Gospel  as  an  evangelist. 
He  had  talents  peculiarly  fitting  him  for  such  a  high 
vocation,  and  he  possessed  every  qualification  neces- 
sary to  success.  A  born  orator,  his  commanding  and 
dignified  presence,  his  powerful  yet  exquisitely  modu- 
lated voice,  his  abounding  sympathy,  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  way  to  reach  and  influence  the  hearts 
of  his  hearers,  all  combined  to  make  him  an  almost 
ideal  preacher.     To  these  qualifications  he  added  care- 


XXVI  IN  MKMORIAM. 

ful  preparation,  unremittiug  study,  and  the  "open 
mind ' '  which  is  always  ready  to  learn  from  others 
and  profit  by  observation. 

He  entered  upon  the  work  of  evangelism  in  1887, 
and  for  more  than  seven  years  deprived  himself  of 
home  comfort  and  the  happiness  of  being  with  his 
beloved  family  for  the  sake  of  increased  usefulness  in 
the  Master's  cause.  During  the  first  winter  he  made 
a  tour  of  some  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  South — 
Atlanta,  Montgomery,  Macon  and  others — and,  at  the 
urgent  solicitation  of  the  churches,  his  labors  contin- 
ued until  the  heat  of  midsummer.  In  the  brief 
period  of  eighteen  days  spent  in  Atlanta  the  church 
was  greatly  revived  and  strengthened,  and  more  than 
a  hundred  were  brought  to  Christ.  In  Montgomery 
his  work  was  still  more  remarkable,  as  he  was  able  to 
reach  that  most  difiicult  of  all  classes,  the  young  club 
men.     There  he  received  this  letter  from — 

Two  young  men  who  have  been  greatly  benefited  by 
Dr.  Kennard's  preaching,  and  are  praying  for  all  the 
young  men  of  this  city.  For  God's  sake,  don't  leave 
this  week.  Young  men  are  talking  and  thinking 
about  religion  who  have  before  treated  it  with  utter 
contempt.     Yours  truly, 

Two  Hard  Cases. 

The  people  thronged  to  the  meetings,  and,  as  usual, 
the  preacher  was  unsparing  of  his  own  strength.  He 
would  hold  a  service  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night, 
when  he  could  get  an  audience.  Frequently  he  records 
a  morning  service  from  eight  to  nine-thirty,  an  after- 
noon service  at  four,  and  the  regular  preaching  in  the 


IN    MEMORIAM.  XXVll 

evening,  with  an  after-meeting  lasting  until  ten 
o'clock.  On  Sunday  he  addressed  the  Sunday  School, 
then  preached,  held  a  meeting  for  men  in  the  after- 
noon, and  the  usual  service  at  night.  While  intense 
and  enthusiastic  always,  his  preaching  was  never  sen- 
sational. As  the  interest  in  a  church  deepened  the 
atmosphere  became  tense  with  a  spiritual  emotion  that 
did  not,  however,  tend  toward  hysteria. 

Here,  as  in  Atlanta,  the  people  vied  with  each  other 
in  expressions  of  love  and  appreciation.  For,  although 
a  Northern  man,  Dr.  Kennard  was  entirely  free  from 
sectional  feeling,  and  the  Southerners  in  turn  were  sur- 
prised and  delighted  to  find  him  so  completely  sympa- 
thetic and  ' '  one  of  themselves. ' ' 

In  one  of  his  home  letters  he  says:  ' '  I  wish  I  had 
a  day  or  two  to  rest  before  beginning  in  Macon,  but 
my  engagements  overlap  by  reason  that  they  are  bound 
I  shall  stay  a  few  days  longer  at  each  place,  and  so 
the  next  has  to  be  postponed,  and  I  hate  to  ask  a  fur- 
ther postponement."  In  Macon  he  was  received  with 
the  same  cordiality,  and  his  work  was  blessed  in  the 
same  abundant  measure.  Very  soon  after  his  arrival 
an  incident  occurred  which  stirred  his  righteous  soul. 
The  Salvation  Army  had  sent  some  of  its  officers  to 
the  city,  but  the  intelligent  people  regarded  them  with 
suspicion,  while  the  lower  classes  met  them  witii 
ridicule  and  hatred. 

Two  of  these  ofl&cers,  after  being  grossly  insulted 
by  the  police  and  the  mob,  were  arrested  and  thrown 
into  jail.  The  next  morning  a  "trial"  was  given 
them,    and    they  were  put  under  bonds  to   keep  the 


xxvni  IN  me;moriam. 

peace.  That  afternoon  Dr.  Kennard  was  to  address  a 
meeting  in  the  Academy  of  Music.  He  invited  one  of 
the  officers  to  occupy  the  platform  with  him,  and  in- 
troduced him  to  the  audience  as  "  a  fellow  laborer 
who  has  had  the  honor  of  suffering  in  prison  for 
Christ's  sake."  Then  the  young  man,  an  intelligent 
and  modest  fellow,  related  his  experience  of  conversion 
and  offered  prayer,  the  evangelist  kneeling  beside  him 
on  the  stage.  Afterward  Dr.  Kennard  commended 
and  explained  the  work  of  the  Salvation  Army,  and 
denounced  the  action  of  the  Ma3'or,  the  City  Attorney 
and  the  Recorder  who  tried  the  case.  It  was  a  danger- 
ous stand  for  a  stranger  and  a  Northerner  to  take,  and 
many  men  would  have  kept  silence,  feeling  themselves 
justified  in  considering  the  possible  injury  to  their  own 
work.  But  the  warm-hearted  Southerners  recognized 
his  chivalrous  spirit,  and  responded  with  cordiality. 
One  of  the  men  denounced  asked  to  be  introduced 
to  the  evangelist,  and  accepted  the  rebuke  in  a 
friendly  way.  The  Maj-or  also  announced  that  he 
would  allow  the  Salvationists  to  hold  meetings  in  any 
of  the  parks,  and  even  offered  to  provide  seats  for  their 
audiences. 

It  had  now  grown  very  warm,  and  Dr.  Kennard 
greatly  desired  to  attend  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion and  seek  a  little  respite  from  his  labors.  But  the 
pastor  of  the  Macon  church  was  ill  and  could  not 
preach,  the  meetings  were  continuously  crowded  and 
many  enquirers  were  coming  forward  each  night.  He 
could  not  take  the  responsibility  of  leaving  them. 
When   the  meeting   was    over  he   went   to  Albany, 


IN   MEMORIAM.  XXIX 

Georgia,  and  from  there  to  Cuthbert,  finishing  his  work 
early  in  June,  and  having  seen  as  the  result  of  his 
personal  labors  more  than  six  hundred  souls  brought 
to  Christ.  A  letter  from  the  last-mentioned  place  to 
the  "  Christian  Index"  voices  the  general  sentiment. 
After  recounting  the  fruits  of  the  ten  days'  mission, 
the  writer  says: 

"  The  preaching  was  all  done,  and  the  meetings 
were  mainly  conducted,  by  Rev.  J.  S.  Kennard,  D.D. ,  of 
Chicago.  Of  all  the  evangelists  from  abroad  whom  I 
have  met,  he  most  nearly  approaches  my  notion  of  a 
model  New  Testament  evangelist.  He  may  truly  be 
called  a  powerful  preacher,  3'et  he  makes  no  effort  at 
elaborately  intellectual  discourse.  His  sermons  are 
remarkable  for  plainness  and  simplicity.  There  is, 
both  in  his  preaching  and  his  methods  of  conducting 
his  meetings,  an  entire  absence  of  eccentricities  and 
effort  at  mere  sensation.  With  a  lively,  emotional 
nature,  full  of  genuine  tenderness,  and  abounding 
in  the  sweet  arts  of  loving  persuasion,  he  neither  ex- 
pends himself  in  awakening  excitement  in  his  hearers, 
nor  gives  any  erroneous  or  uncertain  direction  to 
awaken  feeling.  With  him  Christ  is  emphatically  all 
in  all.  Believe  in,  accept,  submit  to,  the  loving 
Saviour,  who  only  can  furnish  the  righteousness 
demanded  by  God's  holy  law,  and  who  '  is  able  to 
save  unto  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God  by 
Him,'  is  the  burden  of  his  every  exhortation,  warning 
and  persuasion.  The  indifferent  are  most  tenderly 
admonished  of  impending  danger,  the  anxious  are 
carefully  advised  to  read  God's  Word  inquiringly  and 
upon  their  knees,  while  the  cross  is  continually  held 
before  their  eyes  as  the  sure  hope  which  they  may  and 
ought  to  accept  now.  None  are  hurried  into  the 
church  without  careful    inquiry  into   their    spiritual 


XXX  IN  MEMORIAM. 

state,  and  full  instructions  as  to  the  nature  and  evi- 
dences of  regeneration,  and  concerning  the  important 
obligations  of  a  profession  of  religion. 

One  important  characteristic  of  Dr.  Kennard  as  an 
evangelist  is  his  complete  recognition  of  the  rights  and 
responsibilities  of  the  local  pastor.  This  characteris- 
tic is,  unfortunately,  not  possessed  by  all  who  assume 
the  evangelistic  office.  For  the  lack  of  it  and  on  ac- 
count of  a  free  use  of  clap-trap,  stage  tricks  and  down- 
right humbuggery,  many  who  travel  as  dispensers  of 
the  good  news  of  salvation  have  incurred  the  suspicion 
of  ambition,  self-seeking,  and  even  of  hypocrisy.  The 
sacred  office  of  evangelist  has  itself  been  brought  into 
disesteem.  Consequently,  many  careful  pastors  are 
slow  to  admit  the  professional  revivalist  into  their 
fields.  Yet  among  the  classes  of  ministers  catalogued 
in  the  New  Testament  we  find  evangelists  ;  and  obser- 
vation shows  that  there  are  diversities  of  gifts  to  this 
day  in  the  church.  Many  men  who  are  of  great  value 
as  constant  instructors  and  as  administrators  of  church 
affairs  are  perceived  by  others,  as  well  as  acknowledged 
by  themselves,  to  be  painfully  deficient  in  the  special 
work  of  awakening  the  unconverted  and  openly  gather- 
ing souls  into  the  church;  while  others,  whose  labors 
in  the  latter  line  are  unmistakably  and  gloriously 
blessed,  would  be  found  equally  wanting  in  some  im- 
portant qualifications  for  the  pastoral  office. 

The  entire  community  regrets  his  departure.  Hav- 
ing had  the  privilege  of  entertaining  him  during  his 
stay  among  us,  I  learned  to  love  him  very  much. 
Thanking  God  for  sending  him  this  way,  I  earnestly 
commend  him  to  the  brethren  everywhere. 

John  T.  Ci^arke. 

For  the  next  six  years  Dr.  Kennard  spent  almost  all 
his  time  in  active  evangelism.    In  1888  he  went  to  the 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XXxl 

Pacific  Coast,  and  greatly  strengthened  the  churches  in 
San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Santa  Ana,  San  Diego 
and  Riverside.  Through  special  services  he  reached 
many  young  men  v/ho  were  not  accustomed  to  attend- 
ing church,  and  had  the  joy  of  reaping  a  rich  harvest 
of  souls.  Great  as  was  his  desire  to  remain  with  his 
family,  and  in  a  settled  pastorate,  the  call  to  field 
service  seemed  imperative.  Again  and  again  he  crossed 
the  continent  from  east  to  west  and  traversed  the 
United  States  from  north  to  south,  laboring  in  cities 
as  far  distant  as  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  Sioux 
Falls,  South  Dakota,  and  Austin,  Texas. 

He  was  not  content  with  preaching  the  Gospel  from 
the  pulpit.  He  carried  it  from  door  to  door  wherever 
they  would  hear  him.     Of  this  work  he  wrote  : ' 

' '  You  cannot  tell  how  this  individual  work,  directly 
to  invite  the  people  to  Christ,  goes  to  my  heart.  If  I 
had  my  way,  I  would  just  go  on  a  tramp  among  the 
destitute  places,  as  Uncle  John  Vassar  did.  It  is 
about  as  near  Christ's  method  as  anything  I  can 
think  of." 

During  his  few  periods  of  rest  he  occupied  the  time 
in  writing.  His  home-coming  was  always  looked  for- 
ward to  by  himself  and  his  famil)'^  with  impatience. 
When  traveling  he  wrote  almost  daily,  and  never  was 
satisfied  if  a  day  passed  without  receiving  a  letter  from 
home.  His  arrival  was  the  signal  for  general  jubila- 
tion, and  the  family  would  all  gather  around  to  hear 
of  his  trip  and  tell  of  all  that  had  happened  while  he 
was  gone.     He  was  interested  in  all  the  details  of  his 


XXXll  IN  MEMORIAM. 

children's  life,  anxious  about  their  studies  and  much 
concerned  for  their  future.  To  his  sons  he  was  alwa5^s 
an  ideal  man.  As  each  one  launched  out  in  his  busi- 
ness or  profession  he  felt  that  his  father  had  the 
strongest  interest  in  his  success  and  shared  his 
anxieties. 

His  unaffected,  courteous  respect  for  womanhood 
was  ever  conspicuous,  especially  in  his  relation  to  his  own 
wife  and  daughters.  To  the  former  he  was  always  a 
lover,  and  constantly  attributed  his  success  and  the  hap- 
piness of  his  life  to  her.  To  the  latter  he  was  a  friend 
and  companion,  never  unapproachable,  always  sympa- 
thetic, while  his  keen  enjoyment  of  a  frolic  bridged 
the  difference  of  years.  His  childlike  trust  in  peo- 
ple, even  after  repeated  disappointments,  occasioned  a 
great  deal  of  playful  reproof  from  his  children.  He 
was  extravagantly  fond  of  music,  and  at  any  hour  of 
the  day  or  evening  would  suggest  that  ' '  we  have  a 
little  singing. ' '  When  depressed  or  anxious,  he  could 
easily  be  brought  to  a  cheerful  state  of  mind  by  an 
appeal  to  his  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  as  he  was  always 
able  to  see  the  amusing  side  of  a  situation.  His 
geniality  and  his  readiness  to  share  in  the  griefs  as  in 
the  joys  of  other  people  won  the  affection  of  all  with 
whom  he  was  brought  into  contact.  He  asked  little  for 
his  personal  comfort  or  gratification,  and  was  revered 
and  loved  by  the  poor  and  lowly.  He  had  a  naturally 
quick  temper,  but  he  had  too  sweet  a  nature  ever  to 
intentionally  wound,  and  if  he  had  spoken  rashly  in 
his  ' '  haste  ' '  was  immediate  in  his  repentance  and 
sorrow. 


IN  MEMORlAM.  XXXin 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  family  he 
returned  to  regular  pastoral  work  in  the  Belden 
Avenue  Church,  Chicago,  but  after  two  years  resigned 
because  of  impaired  health;  that  was  his  last  pastoral 
charge. 

Dr.  Kennard  and  his  family  then  removed  to 
Pittsburg  and  became  identified  with  the  Shady 
Avenue  Church,  with  whose  pastor.  Dr.  Stanton,  he 
had  a  most  pleasant  association.  The  following 
winter  he  went  to  visit  his  eldest  son,  who  was  living 
in  Florence,  Italy,  and  spent  nearlj-  a  year  in  Europe. 
AMth  the  enthusiasm  of  a  boy  he  absorbed  the  history 
and  art  of  that  country.  He  revived  his  old  acquaint- 
ance with  Savonarola,  exploring  the  convent  of  San 
Marco,  climbing  the  many  steps  to  the  little  cell  of 
the  great  preacher's  prison,  and  hunting  in  dusty 
little  shops  for  portraits  of  the  "Prediche."  The 
beautiful  simplicity  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  fascinated 
him  and,  having  made  himself  familiar  with  the  saint's 
historj',  he  paid  a  visit  to  Assisi  to  see  the  many  spots 
made  sacred  through  their  relation  to  the  saint.  He 
was  not  less  interested  in  the  history  and  problems  of 
modern  Italy.  He  was  burdened  with  the  sorrows  of 
Armenia,  and  he  was  moved  to  indignation  by  the 
' '  Concert  of  Europe. ' '  With  most  of  us  distance 
from  the  scene  of  sorrow  seems  to  have  a  benumbing 
effect  upon  the  feelings.  But  Dr.  Kennard  was  more 
free  from  this  insensibility  than  any  one  whom  I  have 
known.  His  heart  was  touched  by  everything  that 
affected  his  brother  man. 

His  soul  instantly  responded  to  the   sublime  in 


XXXIV  IN  MEMORIAM. 

nature.  Though  full  of  interest  in  art  and  architec- 
ture, he  showed  a  greater  delight  in  mountain  scenery 
or  the  majesty  of  the  ocean.  As  the  train  slowly 
climbed  the  Alps  his  face  was  radiant,  his  lips  eloquent 
with  appreciation  of  glacier  and  mountain  stream,  of 
snow-capped  peak  and  verdant  valley. 

While  in  Florence  he  frequently  preached  for  his 
friend,  Dr.  McDougall,  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
church.  On  his  way  home  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
attending  the  Keswick  meeting  in  London  and  of 
hearing  Joseph  Parker  ;  but  his  life-long  admiration 
for  Charles  Spurgeon  would  have  found  his  greatest 
satisfaction  in  a  sight  of  that  rugged  face.  That,  how- 
ever, he  was  not  to  see  until  they  met  in  the 
Resurrection. 

From  this  European  trip,  the  only  long  vacation 
of  his  life,  Dr.  Kennard  returned  much  refreshed,  and 
at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Pittsburg  ministers 
he  undertook  the  rehabilitation  of  the  distracted  little 
church  at  Connellsville.  Through  his  tact,  his 
courage,  his  wisdom  and  his  piety  he  reunited  the 
church  and  presented  it  to  the  denomination  again  ' '  in 
its  right  mind."  Of  the  next  two  years  a  part  he 
spent  in  Pittsburg,  and  a  part  in  Philadelphia,  his 
native  city.  His  mind  was  as  vigorous  as  in  youth, 
and  in  the  pulpit  he  gave  not  the  least  indication  of 
failing  strength.  Many  of  those  who  heard  him  in 
the  Fourth  Avenue  Church,  Pittsburg,  a  few  months 
before  his  death,  were  astonished  when  they  heard 
that  he  was  gone.  But  his  heart  continued  to  distress 
him,  and  an  attack  of  grippe  sapped  the  springs  of 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XXXV 

vitality.  He  seemed  to  have  a  premonition  that  the 
time  was  short,  and  strove  to  complete  his  literary 
work  and  to  put  his  house  in  order.  In  the  month  of 
September,  feeling  a  great  longing  for  the  sea,  he 
planned  to  go  to  Atlantic  City,  though  at  the  moment 
of  departure  strangely  reluctant  to  leave  home.  He 
stopped  in  Philadelphia  for  medical  treatment,  and 
there  attended  the  Philadelphia  Association,  where  he 
spoke  and  offered  a  prayer  long  to  be  remembered  by 
those  who  heard  it.  He  also  preached  in  German  town. 
His  letters  from  the  seashore  show  the  growing  weari- 
ness, the  longing  for  his  loved  ones,  but  the  still 
greater  longing  for  ' '  home. ' '  He  recalled  the  forty 
years  of  his  married  life,  and  his  heart  went  out  to  the 
wife  of  his  youth  as  he  blessed  God  for  her  love  and 
faithfulness.  Biit  the  old  ocean  had  lost  its  charm. 
The  monotonous  waves  were  too  boisterous  for  his  tired 
soul. 

Restlessness  soon  drove  him  back  to  Philadelphia 
to  his  son's  home.  The  morning  after  his  arrival  he 
drove  from  Chestnut  Hill  to  Germantown  and  visited 
the  boarding-school  where  he  spent  part  of  his  boy- 
hood. In  the  evening  he  was  not  well.  But,  never- 
theless, he  went  into  the  city  the  next  day,  "on  his 
way  home ' '  stopping  to  bid  farewell  to  the  sister  who 
from  early  childhood,  and  through  school  and  college 
days,  had  been  his  confidant  and  counsellor.  At  her 
house  he  was  taken  ill,  and  two  days  later,  October 
i6,  1899,  he  "  went  home."  "Absent  from  the  body, 
he  was  present  with  the  Lord." 

To  his  family  and  friends  his  death  came  with  a 


XXXVl  IN  MEMORIAM. 

shock  of  surprise  and  grief;  they  were  stunned.  Let- 
ters and  telegrams  poured  in,  all  with  the  same  note 
of  personal  loss.  One  who  had  known  him  but  a  few 
months  said:  "  I  do  not  think  you  will  understand  me 
when  I  say  that  this  is  a  terrible  blow  to  me,  and  a 
deep  sorrow.  And  yet,  having  had  him  for  a  father, 
you  may  be  able  to  understand  that  his  tenderness  and 
loveliness  of  life  and  character  endeared  him  at  once 
to  me,  and  I  thought  of  him  always  with  more  affec- 
tion than  I  feel  for  many  people  whom  I  have  known 
much  longer  and,  in  a  way,  much  better." 

An  old  friend  of  his  early  ministry  said  :  ' '  Dr. 
Kennard  belongs  so  essentially  to  youth  and  active 
life  that  any  other  life  than  this  seems  foreign  and 
alien  to  his  nature.  I  alwaj^s  think  of  him  as  in  the 
old  Vv^oburn  days— so  bright,  so  buoyant,  so  happy, 
making  sunshine  wherever  he  went,  gladdening  the 
hearts  of  all  w4th  whom  he  came  into  contact.  What  a 
useful  life  he  has  had!  What  a  multitude  of  lives  he 
has  touched,  and  alwa3-s  for  good!  What  a  throng  of 
ransomed  souls  will  welcome  him  to  his  Heavenly 
home!" 

One  who  had  known  him  only  in  business  rela- 
tions said:  "It  was  with  sincere  regret  and  sorrow 
that  I  read  the  news  of  Dr.  Kennard's  death.  My 
heart  went  out  in  sympathy  to  you  and  yours.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  unequaled  and  never- failing 
kindness  and  courtesy  of  Dr.  Kennard  in  all  social  and 
business  relations. ' '  One  who  had  never  known  him 
at  all,  except  through  extracts  of  his  sermons  and 
references  to  him  found  in  her  mother's  Journal,  wrote 


IN  MEMORTAM.  XXXvil 

that  she  had  become  a  Christian  through  reading  that 
Journal,  and  so  thanked  him  for  her  mother's  and 
her  own  conversion. 

The  assembly  of  those  who  had  known  him  best 
and  desired  to  render  final  honors  to  his  mortal 
remains  was  most  fittingly  held  in  the  dear  Tenth 
Church,  of  so  many  blessed  memories.  If  they  could 
have  come  from  East  and  West  and  North  and  South,  all 
who  had  been  blessed  through  his  life,  all  who  loved 
him  and  loved  God  and  men  more  because  of  him, 
what  a  company  it  would  have  made!  With  more 
than  four  thousand  persons  who  had  been  led  to  Christ 
through  his  labors,  and  the  uncounted  numbers  of 
Christians  whose  Christian  life  was  richer  and  fuller 
by  reason  of  his  teaching  and  example;  with  the 
united  voice  of  the  churches  which  he  had  helped  and 
strengthened,  and  the  churches  of  which  he  had  been 
the  inspiration  and  originator  ;  with  these  and  many 
others  to  sing  songs  of  rejoicing,  what  a  triumphant 
welcome  awaited  the  Soldier  of  the  Cross  as  he  entered 
into  rest! 

And  they  who  had  assembled  to  do  him  reverence 
thought  they  saw  heaven  opened.  The  grief  of  the 
sorrowing  friends  was  hushed  as  they  were  enfolded 
by  the  solemn  peace  of  that  hour  and  the  glow  of  the 
autumn  sunshine  which  fell  upon  the  scarlet  leaves. 
The  simple  service  was  conducted  by  Philadelphia  pas- 
tors who  had  been  at  one  time  or  another  connected  with 
his  life  and  work.  Dr.  Hoj^t,  Dr.  Peltz,  Dr.  Gordon,  Dr. 
Rowland  and  the  pastor  of  the  Tenth  Church  all  paid 
him  their  loving  tribute.     One  had  been  with  him  in 


XXXVm  IN  MKMORTAM. 

school  and  college,  and  his  voice  quivered  as  he  spoke  of 
the  stainless  purity  and  buoyant  courage  of  that  young 
manhood.  Another  had  labored  in  the  same  city 
during  his  pastoral  days,  and  had  felt  the  inspiration 
of  his  intellectual  and  spiritual  vitality.  Another  had 
stood  by  his  side  in  evangelistic  work,  and  had  had  his 
heart  warmed  by  the  fire  of  love  for  perishing  souls. 
Another  had  seen  the  last  bright  glow  of  that  ardent 
spirit  before  it  had  been  caught  within  the  veil.  No 
stereotyped  words  of  comfort  were  needed  by  those 
who  had  been  comforted  of  God.  All  thought  of  self 
was  forgotten.  The  ordinary  cares  and  pleasures  of 
life  faded  into  insignificance.  In  recalling  the  life  of 
one  so  full  of  the  mind  of  Christ  they  talked  famil- 
iarly of  heaven.  One  read  the  verses  which  their 
"  Chrysostom  "  *  had  written  just  before  his  transla- 
tion. 

The  Hon.  John  Wanamaker  came  forward  and 
said  that  he  had  pushed  all  business  aside  that  he 
might  come  and  mourn  with  those  who  mourned  for 
his  friend.  "I  have  known  him  many  years,"  he 
continued,  "  in  early  and  in  later  manhood,  and  never 
has  he  been  found  wanting.  To  me  the  word  which 
best  expresses  his  message  to  us  is  '  fidelity.'  " 

One  week  later  they  laid  him  on  a  sunny  slope  in 
West  Laurel  Hill  for  his  last  sleep.  Well  might  he 
rest,  who,  like  Paul,  could  say,  "  I  have  fought  a  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith. 
Henceforth  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown." 

Of  Dr.  Kennard's  literary  work  mention  has  been 

*  The  name  given  him  by  Dr.  George  C.  I,orimer  years  before. 


IN  MEMORIAM.  XXXIX 

made  several  times.  That  he  had  marked  ability  in 
this  direction  none  of  those  associated  with  him 
doubted.  Had  his  life  been  less  laborious,  had  he  been 
permitted  the  periods  of  comparative  leisure  which 
come  to  many  ministers,  he  would  have  left  behind 
him  very  much  that  was  valuable.  He  was  constantly 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  he  could  '  *  settle 
down  and  write." 

Most  of  his  writings  were  of  the  nature  of  essays, 
brief  and  answering  to  the  passing  occasions — fugitive 
pieces.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  several 
religious  papers,  "The  Baptist  Weekly,"  ''The 
Watchman,"  "  The  Standard,"  and  for  a  number  of 
years  to  "The  Homiletic  Review."  His  articles  on 
Buddha,  on  Savonarola  and  on  St.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
his  three  articles  on  ' '  The  Outlook  for  Protestantism 
in  Italy,"  and  his  exquisite  "  lyCtters  to  a  Restless 
Soul"  are  among  the  most  notable  of  these.  The 
series  on  Pulpit  Eloquence  (which  are  embodied  in 
this  book)  brought  him  scores  of  letters  of  apprecia- 
tion and  requests  for  a  more  extended  review  of  the 
subject.  While  living  in  Philadelphia  he  published  a 
' '  Memorial ' '  of  his  father,  of  which  a  critic  said  : 
' '  Portions  of  the  work  are  written  not  only  with  the 
strict  fidelity  to  truth  which  characterizes  the  whole, 
but  with  great  beauty  and  power,  especially  the 
graphic  pen-portraits  of  Brother  Kennard  '  in  the 
Pulpit,'  '  in  Revivals  '  and  '  in  the  Conference  Room  ' ; 
while  the  tender  and  touching  account  of  his  transla- 
tion is  the  most  affecting  I  ever  read. ' ' 

In  his  series  of  papers  called  ' '  Clerical  Table  Talk  ' ' 


xl  IN  MEMORIAM. 

he  showed  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  peculiar  phases 
and  experiences  of  a  pastor's  life,  which  he  illustrates 
with  a  wealth  of  interesting  and  effective  anecdotes: 
His  mind,  how^ever,  was  essentially  poetic,  and  all  his 
writing  is  livened  by  imagination.  He  wrote  verse 
fluently,  and  some  of  his  hymns  have  received  their 
appropriate  setting  in  music  ;  but  his  finest  work  is 
done  in  vivid  prose.  In  his  earlier  period  the  excel- 
lence is  not  sustained,  though  at  times  rising  to 
heights  of  eloquence;  but  later  we  find  a  virility,  a 
strength  and  a  certain  dignity  of  movement  which 
makes  us  regret  that  he  gave  not  more  time  to  literary 
studies  and  to  the  work  of  authorship. 

But  he  had  a  nobler  mission  than  to  make  litera- 
ture, and  to  it  he  gave  himself  without  reserve.  That 
work  was  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  To  this  his 
highest  powers  were  given,  and  to  it  all  else  was  sub- 
ordinated. Dr.  Kennard  always  prepared  his  sermons 
with  the  greatest  care,  giving  the  best  fruit  of  heart, 
and  mind,  and  spirit  to  sustain  his  flock  day  by  day. 
He  preached  almost  entirely  without  notes,  but  did 
not  trust  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  His  ser- 
mon was  first  thought  out,  then  worked  out,  until  all 
the  parts  were  firmly  compacted,  and  the  whole 
pulsated  with  life  and  power.  The  profoundest 
thought  was  presented  in  such  simple  language  that 
"  the  laboring  man,  though  a  fool,"  might  understand 
and  little  children  feed  upon  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word.  He  never  was  solicitous  about  giving  to  his 
sermons  beauty  of  form,  nor  sacrificed  a  fraction  of 
their  dynamic  force  to  literary  excellence.     Once  he 


IN  MEMORIAM.  Xli 

wrote  :  "*To  have  people  say  to  me,  '  I  was  pleased 
with  your  sermon,'  or  '  That  was  a  fine  discourse  ':  if 
sinners  are  not  converted,  it  seems  all  such  a  sham." 
Again:  "I  have  a  strong  conviction  of  the  supreme 
value  of  spiritual  power  and  a  desire  for  it,  I  think, 
more  entire  than  my  desire  for  any  other  gift  or 
attainment." 

Yet  the  thoughts  springing  from  so  rich  a  soil 
could  not  but  clothe  themselves  with  forms  of  beauty, 
and  his  poetic  soul  found  illustrations  of  the  truth  in  a 
thousand  sparkling  images.  He  was  a  natural  critic, 
with  a  mind  keenly  analytical  in  argument  and  a 
ready  wit  with  which  to  defend  himself  in  repartee ; 
yet  he  never  indulged  in  satire.  He  was  able  to  con- 
tend with  a  theological  adversary  without  losing  his 
own  temper  or  wounding  his  opponent's  feelings.  At 
one  time  he  took  occasion  to  answer  some  arguments 
in  a  sermon  on  Evolution  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
and  received  from  him  a  cordial  letter,  from  which  the 
following  extract  is  taken :  ^- 

"I  have  read  your  reported  sermon,  delivered 
yesterday,  with  great  interest.  I  have  to  thank  j'ou 
for  your  kindness  of  feeling  manifested  and  the  absence 
of  that  rigor  of  orthodoxy  which  seems  to  be  but  a 
covert  form  of  saying  '  damn  you.'  But  I  am  not  say- 
ing this  as  an  expression  of  surprise.  One  would  have 
expected  this  excellent  spirit  in  you.  But  the  point 
of  my  gratification  is  that  the  time  has  come  for  an 
honest  discussion  of  the  views  of  the  old    and  new 

*  Following  this  memoir  the  letter  is  given  in  full  as  presenting  most 
clearly  and  compactly  Mr.  Beecher's  attitude  toward  "  The  New  Theology." 


xlii  IN  MEMORIAM. 

theology.  If  conducted  in  a  Christian  spirit,  good 
cannot  but  come  of  it.  It  is  hardly  to  be  expected 
that  either  side  will  have  a  whole  victory.  But 
another  generation  will  find  itself  upon  a  higher  level. " 
Generous  as  was  Dr.  Kennard  to  those  who 
honestly  differed  from  him,  he  had  no  patience  with  a 
scoffer  or  a  wilfully  blinded  skeptic.  One  of  his  latest 
articles  was  upon  ' '  The  Arrogance  and  Complacency 
of  Modern  Unbelief. ' '  That  article  was  in  type  when 
his  obituary  notice  was  received,  and  appeared  at  the 
same  time.  Earnestly  maintaining  the  divine  mission 
of  the  preacher,  he  denied  the  supremacy  of  the  press. 
Personal  force  can  be  best  conveyed  through  personal 
presence;  even  "  The  Word  "  of  God  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us.  Therefore  he  realized  the  tre- 
mendous importance  of  laying  under  tribute  every 
faculty  of  mind  and  body,  of  discovering  each  element 
of  power  and  reinforcing  all  natural  ability  by  thorough 
training  and  education.  And  upon  these  best  efforts 
of  which  a  man  is  capable  he  invoked  the  blessing  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  dealing  with  that  mysterious,  elu- 
sive, wonderful  and  precious  thing,  a  human  soul. 


IN  MEMORIAM.  Xliii 


Letter  from  Henry  Ward  Beecher  to 

Dr.  Kennard. 

Chicago,  July  23,  '83. 
Grand  Pacific  Hotel. 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  Spencer  Kennard  : 

Dear  Sir. — I  have  read  your  reported  sermon,  delivered 
yesterday,  with  great  interest.  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your 
kindness  of  feeling  manifested  and  the  absence  of  that  rigor  of 
Orthodoxy,  which  seems  to  be  but  a  covert  form  of  saying 
"damn  you."  But  I  am  not  saying  this  as  an  expression  of 
.surprise.  One  would  have  expected  this  excellent  spirit  in  yon. 
But  the  point  of  my  gratification  is,  that  the  time  has  come 
for  an  honest  discussion  of  the  views  of  the  Old  and  the  New 
Theology.  If  conducted  in  Christian  spirit,  good  cannot  but 
come  out  of  it.  It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  either  side 
will  have  a  whole  victory.  But  another  generation  will  find 
itself  upon  a  higher  level.  Allow  me  to  say  of  my  owa  posi- 
tion :  that  I  know  that  I  am  orthodox  and  evangelical  as  to 
the  /ads  and  substance  of  the  Christian  Religion  ;  but,  equally 
well,  I  know  that  I  am  not  orthodox  as  to  the  philosophy 
which  has  hitherto  been  applied  to  those  facts.  I  am  a  cordial 
Christian  Evolutionist.  I  do  not  agree,  by  any  means,  with 
all  of  Spencer — his  agnosticism — nor  all  of  Huxley,  Tyndal,  and 
their  school.  They  are  agnostic.  I  am  not — emphatically. 
But  I  am  an  evolutionist,  and  that  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  me- 
diaeval and  orthodox  modern  theology— the  fall  of  Man  in  Adam, 
the  inheritance  by  his  posterity  of  his  guilt,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, any  such  view  of  Atonement  as  has  been  constructed  to 
merit  this  fabulous  disaster.  Men  have  not  fallen  as  a  race. 
Men  have  come  up.  No  great  disaster  met  the  race  at  the  start. 
The  Creative  decree  of  God  was  fulfilled.  Any  theory  of 
Atonement  must  be  one  which  shall  meet  the  fact  that  man  was 
created  at  the  lowest  point,  and,  as  I  believe,  is,  as  to  hxs,  physi- 
cal being,  evolved  from  the  animal  race  below  him,  but,  as  to  his 
moral  and  spiritual  nature,  is  a  son  of  God,  a  new  element  having 
come  in,  in  the  great  movement  of  Evolution,  at  the  point  of 
man's  appearance. 

Man  is  universally  sinful — not  by  nature,  but  by  a  voluntary 
violation  of  known  laws.  In  other  words,  the  animal  passions 
of  man  have  proved  to  be  too  strong  for  his  moral  and  spiritual 
nature.  Paul's  double  man,  the  old  niafi  and  the  new  man,  is  a 
grand  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  sin — especially  in  seventh 
Romans.     But,  enough  of  this.      I   am  not  in  my  preaching 


xliv  IN  MBMORIAM. 

attacking  Orthodoxy.  I  belong  to  this  wing  of  the  Christian 
Army.  But  I  cannot  get  my  own  views  out,  except  by  a  com- 
parison of  them  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  standard  views.  If 
to  any  I  seem  to  bring  wit  and  humor  to  an  irreverent  use,  I  can 
only  say,  I  do  it  because  I  cannot  help  it.  So  things  come  to 
me,  so  I  must  express  them — but  not  as  a  sneer,  or  scoff — though 
often  with  impetuous  feeling,  and  with  open  mirth. 

My  life  is  drawing  to  an  end.  A  few  more  working  years 
only  have  I  left.  No  one  can  express  the  earnestness  which  I 
feel  that,  in  the  advance  of  science,  which  will  inevitably  sweep 
away  much  rubbish  from  the  beliefs  of  men,  a  place  may  be 
found  for  a  higher  spirituality — for  a  belief  that  shall  have  its 
roots  in  science,  and  its  top  in  the  sunlight  of  faith  and  love. 
For  that  I  am  working  and  shall  work  as  long  as  I  work  at  all. 

The  discussion  has  begun.  God  is  in  it.  It  must  go  on.  It 
is  one  of  those  great  movements  which  come  when  God  would 
lift  men  to  a  higher  level.  The  root  of  the  whole  matter  with 
me  is,  in  a  word,  this  : 

Which  is  the  central  element  of  Moral  Government,  Love  or 
Hatred  ? 

I  say  Hatred,  for  in  human  hands  that  is  what  Justice  has 
largely  amounted  to.  I  hold  that  they  are  not  coequal.  True 
Justice,  in  its  primitive  form,  is  simply  pain — and  this  suffering 
is  auxiliary,  pedagogic — the  schoolmaster  until  men  are  enough 
developed  to  work  by  Love.  Love  is  not  auxiliary.  It  is  the 
one  undivided  force  of  Moral  Government,  to  which  God 
is  bringing  this  Universe.  Forgive  my  length.  I  should  wish 
to  live  in  the  affection  and  confidence  of  my  brethren  in  the 
Christian  Ministry.  But  I  cannot,  for  the  sake  of  earning  it, 
yield  one  jot  or  tittle  of  loj^alty  to  that  Kingdom  of  Love  which 
is  coming,  and  of  which  I  am  but  as  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness "  prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord." 

I  am  affectionately  yours, 

Henry  Ward  Beecher. 


A  Pulpit  of  Power  the  Need 
OF  THE  Times 


CHAPTER  1 

A  Pulpit  of  Power  the  Need 
OF  THE  Times 


OF  the  Italian  Renaissance,  no  figure,  not  even 
that  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  looms  up  so 
commandingly  as  that  of  Savonarola,  the 
preaching  friar.  He  stands  there  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  vast  Cathedral  of  Florence,  a  city  brilliant 
with  art  and  luxury,  and  full  of  social  corruption,  gor- 
geous religion  and  graceless  living.  He  had  been 
summoned  there  by  the  entreaties  of  the  despairing 
Signoria  and  people,  from  the  seclusion  of  his  cell  into 
which  his  disgust  at  the  seeming  failure  of  his  gospel 
of  reform  had  driven  him.  He  came  forth  to  preach 
to  that  vast  multitude  of  star\dng,  hopeless  Floren- 
tines, besieged  at  once  by  powerful  armies,  pestilence 
and  famine  ,  suffering  and  desperation  marking  every 
face.  To  that  miserable  throng,  lately  his  enemies, 
Savonarola  spoke  as  an  ambassador  of  God  ;  he  won 
them  to  penitence,  cheered  them  with  promises  of 
divine  metC}-,  and  lo  !  while  leading  them  in  a  pro- 
cession of  tearful  humiliation  through  the  streets,  a 
messenger  galloped  into  the  midst  proclaiming  that 
"salvation  had  come  !  "  Friendly  ships,  driven  by  a 
tempest  which  scattered  the  blockading  fleet,  had 
brought  food  and  reinforcements.     The  surging  mul- 


2  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN    PREACHING. 

titudes  cried  out :  "  The  friar's  preaching  has 
saved  us  once  more  ! ' '  Then  followed  those  wonder- 
ful 3^ears  in  which  the  preacher  successfully  disputed 
with  the  Medicean  despot  the  moral  dominion  of 
Florence  ;  Lorenzo  clothed  in  luxurious  unrighteous- 
ness— Savonarola  armed  with  the  scepter  of  truth  and 
flaming  zeal  for  God's  honor  and  man's  salvation. 
And  when  we  see  him  at  last  summoned  to  Lorenzo's 
dying  bed  and  ministering  there  in  the  spirit  of  Elijah, 
we  say  :  ' '  There  is  a  man  of  power — a  man  for  the 
times!"  He  transformed  Florence,  at  least  for  the 
time  ;  literally  enthroned  Christ  as  King  in  Florence, 
and  inscribed  his  title,  ' '  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords"  over  the  door  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  where 
it  still  remains,  a  testimony  of  what  once  was  done  by 
a  Pulpit  of  Power. 

Four  centuries  have  passed  since  then,  but  human 
nature  has  not  changed.  Freedom,  law,  intelligence 
have  wrought  vast  revolutions  in  society  such  as  in 
that  day  were  only  the  dream  of  poets,  and  this  morn 
of  the  Twentieth  Century  is  pregnant  with  a  new  his- 
tory, with  mightier  issues  and  higher  political  and 
social  ethics  than  any  that  has  preceded  it,  but  no 
age  more  imperatively  needed  a  Pulpit  of  Power — a 
Prophet  voice  proclaiming  Him  who,  for  man  and  the 
nation  and  the  age,  is  "The  Way,  the  Truth  and  the 
Life."  Are  there  not,  now,  social  despotisms  that 
need  dethroning,  a  social  life  that  needs  purifying,  a 
church  that  needs  a  Renaissance  of  primitive  faith  and 
sacrifice,  revolutionary  forces  that  need  a  controlling 
hand  no  less  than  Divine  ?     Are  the  School,  the  Press 


A  PUT.PIT  OF  POWRR    THE  NEED  OF  THE  TIMER.      3 

and  the  State  proving  their  ability  to  deal  with  these 
perilous  times  and  these  transcendent  issues?  On 
the. 400th  anniversary  of  his  martyrdom,  Florence 
celebrated,  with  solenni  pomp  and  festival  of  joy, 
the  memory  of  Savonarola.  Flowers  strewed  the 
place  where  the  flames  had  swathed  his  dead  body. 
From  a  stage  where  his  gallows  had  stood  in  the  Piazza 
Signoria  eloquent  lips  eulogized  him  as  preacher  and 
patriot  for  all  time.  And  the  hope  of  Italy,  the  hope 
of  America,  the  hope  of  humanitj^,  to-day,  is  such  a 
ministry  of  hei'oic  daritig  and  spirihial  power . 

Twenty  years  ago  a  smart  writer  in  the  London 
Times  asked,  "  Why  this  preaching  ?  Why  does  this 
man  talk  to  us  ?  Why  not  be  content  to  worship  only 
when  we  go  to  church  ?  "  About  the  same  time,  in  a 
more  serious  vein,  the  Edinburgh  Revieiv  said,  "Divin- 
ity fills  up  her  weekly  hour  by  the  grave  and  gentle 
excitement  of  an  orthodox  discourse,  or  by  toiling 
through  her  narrow  round  of  systematic  dogmas,  or 
by  creeping  along  some  low  level  of  school-boy  moral- 
ity, or  by  addressing  the  initiated  in  mystic  phraseol- 
ogy ;  but  she  has  ceased  to  employ  lips  such  as  those 
of  Chrysostom  or  Bourdaloue. ' '  And  these  utterances 
have  had  many  an  echo  since,  from  sources  of  more 
or  less  importance.  An  English  Church  clergyman, 
a  few  years  since,  referring  apparently  to  his  own 
National  Church,  elaborately  argued  "The  Failure  of 
the  Pulpit,"  and  a  New  England  religious  periodical 
invited  a  symposium  on  the  solemn  problem,  "Shall 
we  go  on  preaching  ?  "  These  voices,  which  are  quite 
representative  of  a  class  not  altogether  frivolous,  can- 


4  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN   PRKACHING. 

not  be  silenced  by  indifference  or  apology.  A  radical 
and  fearless  reconsideration  of  the  position  and  func- 
tion of  the  preacher  in  this  Twentieth  Century — which 
is  neither  the  apostolic  nor  the  mediaeval — is  demanded. 
It  need  not  be  feared  but  that  it  will  appear,  whether 
from  a  religious  or  philosophical,  a  socialistic  or 
humanitarian,  a  patriotic  or  a  practical,  an  ethical  or 
an  evangelical  point  of  view,  that  the  pulpit  is 
neither  obsolete  nor  obsolescent.  The  preacher  is,  and 
should  continue  to  be,  a  paramount  power  in  human 
society. 

The  pulpit  no  longer  rules  as  it  did  when,  allied 
with  the  State,  it  was  the  chief  fountain  of  learning 
and  authority  ;  when  the  preacher  alone  raised  ques- 
tions, ethical  and  social,  and  answered  them,  with 
none  to  dispute  his  verdict ;  when  the  seminary  where 
the  minister  was  educated  was  the  mystic  treasury 
of  most  of  the  learning,  and  his  library  contained  the 
rest. 

To-day  a  continuous  stream  of  information  and 
discussion  of  all  subjects,  and  in  popular  form,  rolls 
through  the  land  and  finds  its  way  to  every  door.  The 
most  vital  questions  affecting  human  life  and  destiny 
are  affluently  treated,  not  only  in  books,  but  upon  every 
platform,  in  religious  and  in  secular  newspapers,  side 
by  side  with  politics  and  trade.  Everybody  knows 
everything  now-a-days,  or  thinks  he  does,  and  the 
awe  which  the  pulpit  once  inspired  has  disappeared. 
In  saying,  however,  that  the  power  of  the  pulpit 
as  an  instihition  has  declined,  we  would  by  no  means 
concede  that  the  power  of  the  preacher  has  gone  with 


A  PULPIT  OF  POWER    THE  ^fEED  OF  THE  TIMES.      5 

it.  On  the  contrary,  as  the  peculiar  awe  which  in- 
vested the  oflSce  has  lessened,  the  greater  is  the  demand 
that  the  man  himself,  as  a  living  force  among  men  and 
called  to  a  supreme  function,  should  heroically  attain 
and  maintain  a  personal  power  unaided  by  the  but- 
tressing of  the  State  or  the  mystic  authority  of  the 
Church. 

The  highest  and  most  enduring  elements  of  power, 
remain  the  same  in  all  the  mutations  of  the  ages,  and 
owe  little  to  environment.  They  are  at  their  best  when 
called  to  conquer  without  the  alliance  of  favoring  con- 
ditions. If  illustrations  of  this  were  needed,  the  ca- 
reer of  that  man  who,  in  our  generation,  has  divided 
with  the  world's  greatest  statesmen  and  princes  the 
interested  gaze  of  his  cotemporaries — Charles  Had- 
don  Spurgeon — would  be  suflScient.  Nay,  the  bene- 
ficent and  acknowledged  forcefulness  of  a  Moody 
among  the  masses  and  a  Phillips  Brooks  or  a  Maclaren 
among  the  cultured,  would  prove  that  this  strenuous, 
conceited  and  materialistic  age,  not  less  than  any 
former  one,  confesses  the  preacher's  power.  I  go 
further  ;  I  affirm  that  it  is  historically  and  rationally 
demonstrable  that  times  of  enlightenment  and  pro- 
gress, like  these,  are  more  favorable  to  the  preacher's 
power,  more  hospitable  to  it,  more  fruitful  of  the  best 
results  than  any  since  the  dawn  of  Christianity.  In 
fact  the  preacher's  power  is  as  much  nobler  and  more 
enduring  than  that  of  the  Savonarolas  or  the  John 
Knoxes  of  a  former  day,  as  that  of  the  electrician,  the 
biologist  and  the  statesman  of  these  times  is  nobler 
than  that  of  the  alchemist,  the  thaumaturgist  and  the 


6  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

feudal  lord  of  an  age  of  ignorance  and  superstition. 
"  Is  he  a  physician  of  souls  ?  He  can  better  operate  on 
wakeful  than  on  torpid  patients.  Is  he  an  advocate  ? 
He  can  better  plead  before  an  educated  jury  than  a 
clownish  one.  If  his  appeal  is  to  men's  will,  it  is,  at 
least  to  one  unfettered  by  fear  ;  if  to  the  conscience,  it 
i;j  to  one  unclouded  by  superstition  ;  if  to  the  heart,  it 
is  to  one  never  more  aching  with  unrest  or  hungry  for 
reality  and  love." 

The  philosopher  and  poet  declare  that  the  times 
are  barren  of  enthusiasm  and  heroism  ;  and  that  a 
frivolous  materialism  in  its  dance  of  death  is  tramp- 
ling out  the  torch  of  the  soul.  There  is  some 
truth  and  much  folly  in  this  despondent  view  of  things. 
It  springs  from  a  shallow  skepticism  which  looks  only 
at  the  worst  features  of  an  age  whose  field  of  Christian 
activities  shows  divinest  enthusiasm  and  heroism  for 
humanity.  But  whatever  truth  there  be  in  the  pes- 
simist's view  of  the  times,  it  is  all  but  a  challenge  to 
the  best  exercise  of  the  preacher's  power. 

If  never  before  were  men  so  utterly  "without  God 
and  without  hope  ;"  if,  according  to  the  poets  of  de- 
spair, materialistic  curiosity  has  "ripped,  one  by  one, 
the  world's  pretty  dolls  and  scattered  the  sawdust 
along  its  starless  path,"  then  it  is  surely  the  fullness 
of  time  for  the  true  Prometheus  to  appear  again,  if  he 
but  carry  in  his  reed  the  celestial  fire  ;  it  is  time  for  the 
herald  who  has  a  real  message  of  life  and  immortality, 
who  has  seen  God  face  to  face  and  gotten  his  message 
from  Him,  to  lift  up  his  voice  like  a  trumpet. 

In  a  word,  if  a  man  know  how  to  preach  the  everlast- 


A  PULPIT  OF  POWER    Till';  NEED  OE  THE  TIMES.      7 

ing  gospel,  if  he  be  himself  a  living  incarnation  of  its 
perennial  freshness  and  force,  its  life  and  peace  and  joy, 
if  he  be  a  voice  that  can  speak,  not  only  the  seminary 
lore,  but  the  Saviour's  love,  then  there  never  was  a 
time  when  he  could  have  a  more  open  and  inviting 
j&eld,  or  a  more  grateful  welcome  among  thronging 
men,  or  a  fairer  hope  of  success  in  the  highest  sense. 
If  there  is  weakness  in  the  pulpit  in  our  day,  it  is  not 
the  fault  of  the  "spirit  of  the  age."  The  preachers  of 
the  apostolic  era  faced  such  pharisaic  pride,  such 
religious  obstinacy,  such  depravity  and  frivolity,  such 
fortified  selfishness  as  is  not  equalled  in  our  age  ;  but 
they  were  not  dismayed — by  the  power  of  their  words 
they  conquered.  If  the  pulpit  to-day  is  lacking  in 
power,  the  sin  lies  at  its  own  door  and  cannot  be  shifted 
to  the  shoulders  of  society.  The  people,  the  press, 
public  opinion  in  whatever  way  expressed,  so  far  from 
antagonizing,  would  eagerly  welcome  a  pulpit  of 
greater  power,  in  fact  are  insisting  upon  it.  The 
living  preacher  never  had  so  many  aids  and  openings  ; 
men's  hearts  and  homes  and  lives  were  never  more 
hospitable  to  his  message,  and  all  the  more  as  he 
approaches  them  simply  as  a  man  sent  from  God  with 
a  practical  hope  and  help  upon  his  lips. 

In  saying  this  I  would  not  ignore  those  palpable 
facts  which  tend  to  repress  pulpit  power.  One  of 
these  is  found  in  the  very  process  of  ordinary  theolog- 
ical training  in  our  seminaries.  In  spite  of  the  eleva- 
tion of  religious  scholarship,  the  development  of  pulpit 
power  shows  in  our  graduates  little  advance.  The 
seclusion  of  the  student,  for  the  six  or  eight  years  of 


8  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

his  classical  and  seminary  course,  from  contact  with 
the  real  life  of  the  toiling  world  to  which  he  is  at 
length  to  minister,  and  his  constant  dealing  with 
abstract  thought,  and  breathing  a  scholarly  atmos- 
phere, is  not  conducive  to  that  "love  of  the  people" 
which  the  Abbe  Mullois  tells  us  is  the  first  qualifica- 
tion, or  that  "sympathy  with  their  wants"  which 
Vinet  makes  the  foundation  of  the  preacher's  efficiency. 
His  preaching  is  apt  to  be  scholarly,  theological,  apolo- 
getic, classical,  dogmatic,  correct  —  everything  but 
simple,  natural,  vital,  enthusiastic,  familiar,  vehement, 
or,  in  other  words,  powerful. 

Nor  can  we  ignore  the  temper  and  trend  of  the 
age,  its  crowding  of  material  activities  and  lack  of 
moral  earnestness,  its  abundant  inventions,  sciences, 
discoveries,  enterprises,  and  its  few  spiritual  lives ; 
everything  superficial — except  human  discontent,  and 
that  very  deep,  and  not  without  volcanic  mutterings. 
It  is  an  era  of  fads,  of  laughter  at  everything,  from 
Heaven's  law  and  love  to  Hell's  penalties.  Life  seems 
stripped  of  solemnity  and  sublimity,  men's  brains  and 
hearts  becoming  taverns  for  the  revels  of  le  jeune  siccle 
novelties  rather  than  the  home  of  truth  and  happiness. 
There  is  a  strong  temptation,  with  such  surroundings, 
to  accommodate  our  teaching  to  the  mood  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  to  make  the  "Word  only  scintillate  when  it  should 
shine  and  burn  ;  to  consult  people's  whims  rather  than 
their  wants,  to  be  popular  rather  than  powerful,  and 
to  avoid  sinking  into  insignificance,  not  by  the  strength 
with  which  we  breast  the  tide,  but  by  the  lightness 
with  which  we  float  on  the  current.     The  very  famili- 


A  PULPIT  OF  POWER    THE  NEED  OE  THE  TIMES.      9 

arity  of  the  preacher's  themes  may  put  his  soul  to 
sleep,  while  the  panorama  of  the  gay  world  may  dis- 
tract him,  like  the  rest,  from  the  pulpit's  chief  work. 
Is  it  any  wonder  if  power  wanes,  and  the  preacher 
almost  loses  enthusiasm  for  humanity,  and  with 
scarcely  self-reproach  sees  the  vanishing  of  his  early 
ideal ? 

It  is  against  such  demoralizing  and  enfeebling 
influences  he  is  boldly  to  strive  ;  his  nobility  obliges 
him  to  this  ;  his  responsibility  is  imperative.  The 
objects  which  the  preacher  seeks  to  attain  remain  as 
unutterably  and  inconceivably  great  as  ever.  God, 
eternity,  the  soul,  all  that  concern  man's  duty  here 
and  his  destiny  hereafter — these  are  his  themes,  and 
are  as  unfading  as  the  blue  of  heaven,  as  inexhaustible 
as  the  sorrows  and  joys  of  humanity.  What  power 
ought  that  man  to  have  who  stands  before  an  audi- 
ence on  whom  he  looks  as  immortal  souls  for  whom 
he  must  give  account,  unto  whom  those  men  look 
with  intelHgent  reverence,  predisposed  to  be  influ- 
enced for  good,  where  praj^er  lends  its  inspira- 
tion and  music  its  wings  to  the  soul  !  He  stands 
in  a  relation  the  most  solemn  of  all  this  side  the  judg- 
ment; he  speaks,  as  Heaven's  ambassador,  to  the  con- 
science, the  heart,  the  life,  of  every  one  beneath  his 
gaze;  he  pours  the  affluence  of  God's  love,  and  light,  and 
life,  over  dark  and  tempted  and  struggling  and  weary 
natures,  probes  the  depth  of  human  guilt,  unveils  the 
glories  of  salvation,  and  performs  his  work  environed 
consciously  by  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come  !  What 
a  boundless  wealth  of  materials  he  has  out  of  which  to 


lO  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

weave  the  net  in  whose  meshes  the  "fisher  of  men"  is 
to  catch  souls  !  The  whole  field  of  man's  experience  in 
history,  the  whole  field  of  current  life  in  the  world, 
the  realms  of  nature,  science  and  art,  he  may  lay 
under  contribution  to  illustrate  and  enforce  the  teach- 
ings of  God's  Word,  which  in  themselves  abound  as 
much  in  variety  as  they  do  in  sublimity.  His  divine 
call  involves  his  right  to  summon  all  the  powers  of 
Heaven  and  earth  as  allies,  but  his  own  personal  power 
is,  under  the  Divine  Spirit,  the  chief  element  of 
success. 

What  Pere  L,acordaire,  in  his  illustrious  defence, 
said  of  Genius  may,  with  modification,  be  said  of  the 
power  and  inspiration  the  preacher  needs.  "Genius," 
said  he,  "is  formed  by  two  things — God  and  a  dun- 
geon.'  '  If  genius  may  be  defined  as  energy  exalted  by 
inspiration,  then  we  may  say  that  the  power  by  which 
we  are  to  win  and  constrain  the  world  to  prostrate 
itself  before  the  Cross  is  the  outgrowth  of  three 
things — God  and  Solitude,  and  the  Love  of  Souls. 
Panoplied  in  the  learning  of  the  schools  and  the  skill 
of  culture,  we  stand  in  the  very  focus  of  illumination 
and  illustration.  On  all  the  subjects  we  are  called  to 
teach,  and  all  the  work  we  are  called  to  do,  we  have 
books,  periodicals,  conventions,  symposia,  examples — 
what  do  we  not  have  to  make  us  a  ministry  of  power  ? 
Only  these  we  seem  not  to  have,  at  least  in  impressive 
evidence — God,  and  Solitude,  and  the  Sacrificial  Love 
of  Souls.  We  are  responsible  for  the  men  of  our  gen- 
eration ;  Heaven  is  expectant  of  their  conversion ; 
their  blood  will  God  require  at  our  hands  !     Science 


A  PULPIT  OF  POWHR    THE  NEED  OF  THE  TIMES.    1 1 

has  not  convinced  us  that  they  are  the  children  of 
apes ;  neither  are  they  the  children  of  the  Devil. 
Many  of  them  are  his  bondservants,  but  they  have 
wants,  hungerings,  fears,  hopes  that  are  deep,  surgent 
and  dominating  as  instincts,  and  these  make  them 
susceptible  to  God  when  he  is  rightly  presented. 
But  when  is  he  so  presented  ? 

We  offer  to  these  lost  brethren,  who  with  a  blind 
and  dumb  and  aching  instinct  feel  after  Him  if  so  be 
they  may  find  Him  ;  needing  Him  though  they  shun 
Him — we  may  offer  to  these  bewildered  men  an  ortho- 
dox God,  a  theological  God,  a  historical  God,  a  trans- 
cendental God,  na}',  even  a  rational  and  scientific 
God,  and  it  may  still  be  a  dead  God  that  we  offer.  We 
may  paint  him  as  liberal  and  complaisant  as  the  West- 
ern Jupiter,  or  as  dogmatic  and  .-:ruel  as  the  Eastern 
Moloch,  and,  failing  to  attract  by  the  one  or  to  terrify 
by  the  other,  we  will  still  have  to  cry  to  the  heedless 
and  far-off  throngs,  "We  have  piped  unto  j^ou  and  ye 
have  not  danced  ;  we  have  mourned  unto  you  and  ye 
have  not  lamented. ' '  Even  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  who 
appropriated  these  words  to  His  own  ill-success,  did 
not  get  Himself  believed  and  beloved  while  simply  in 
the  body,  though  He  was  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
incarnate.  Crowned  with  a  constellation  of  miracles 
and  speaking  as  never  man  spake,  He  preached  of 
God,  yet  ended  His  ministry  with  the  bitter  cry, 
"How  oft  would  I  have  gathered  you — but  3^e  would 
not."  A  few  days  after  and  those  same  Jewish 
peasants  filled  the  air  with  their  penitential  cries,  and 
by  thousands  surrendered  to  God.    Behold  the  reason  ! 


12  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

God  must  be  seen  upon  a  Cross  ere  men  will  be 
attracted  to  Him.  "I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  Me" — and  He  will  not  thus  be  seen  except 
as  He  is  made  to  live  while  He  dies  in  the  eyes  of  all 
the  people. 

The  world  will  not  be  drawn  to  a  crucifix,  but 
it  may  be  drawn  to  a  crucifixion,  and  its  vital  pre- 
sentation in  the  burning  words  of  a  living  ministry  has 
never  failed  to  command  and  convert  a  multitude  of 
men.  We  must  see  Christ  ere  we  can  make  others 
see  Him.  We  are  to  inspire  our  souls  with  the 
silent,  adoring,  sympathetic  contemplation  of  the 
Christ  whom  we  are  to  preach,  transfigured  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  blending  His  image  with  all  our 
thoughts  and  feelings.  His  cross  must  be  erected  in 
the  sanctuary  of  our  hearts  ere  we  can  convince  men 
of  its  reality.  We  can  preach  about  Christ  if  we  have 
some  fine  words  in  a  paper  book  on  the  pulpit,  but  we 
can  preach  Christ  only  when  He  dwells  in  us  as  a  living 
and  luminous  presence,  possessing,  engrossing,  con- 
straining by  His  ineffable  beauty,  and  sorrow,  and 
love,  all  our  powers  into  the  expression  by  which  we 
offer  Him  to  men.  Even  in  our  highest  efficiency  we 
are  compelled  to  utter  the  sigh  of  Lacordaire  to  his 
friend  Montalembert,  when  the  eloquent  priest  was 
restoring  to  faith  thousands  of  the  young  men  of  Paris 
by  his  wonderful  preaching  in  Notre  Dame,  ' '  How 
powerless  is  man  for  his  fellow-man  !  Of  all  his  mis- 
eries, this  is  the  greatest !  "  We  are  doomed  to  see 
the  stream  of  humanity  rush  past  us,  in  its  pride  and 
passion,   its  gaiety   and  '^adness,   without   hope  and 


A  PULPIT  OF  POWKR    THR  NEED  OF  THE  TIMES.    1 3 

•without  God  ;  and  even  while  we  gaze  a  multitude 
have  vanished  !  But  we  need  not  stand  with  para- 
lyzed faith  and  fettered  energies.  Let  the  scene  drive 
us  to  our  knees  and  keep  us  there  till  we  be  endued 
with  power  from  on  high.  We  must  command  time, 
much  time  for  solitude,  contemplation  of  Christ  and  * 
prayer.  It  is  always  from  lonely  heights  of  medita- 
tion men  have  come  down  to  move  the  world.  The 
human  soul  that  dreams  of  spiritual  power  and  reve- 
lation betakes  itself  naturally  to  solitude.  Not  only 
the  prophets  of  Israel,  saints  of  the  Thebaid  and 
founders  of  Religion  in  the  mystic  East  have  done  so  ; 
even  the  Greek  Meneander  recognized,  though  he 
sneered  at,  the  phenomenon :  '  'The  desert,  they  say,  is 
the  place  for  discoveries."  The  Forerunner  was  there 
prepared  for  his  heraldship  and  the  Son  of  Man  for  his 
gospel  and  His  Cross.  The  singer  of  the  ' '  Divina 
Commedia  ' '  betook  himself  to  the  lonely  convent  of 
Fonte  Avellana  and  meditated  there  the  cantos  of  his 
"  Purgatorio,"  and  St.  Francis  chastened  and  replen- 
ished his  soul  for  his  mission  of  sacrificial  love  in  the 
caves  and  forests  of  Umbria.  We  must  dwell  more 
with  God  and  gain  power  with  Him  if  we  would  have 
* '  power  with  men. ' ' 

It  was  by  such  solitary  communion  with  God  and 
the  study  of  the  Bible  that  Savonarola  acquired  that 
massive  personal  power,  that  energy  of  soul,  that  im- 
perial will  force  by  which,  from  his  pulpit  in  the 
Duomo,  he  ruled  Florence.  He  had  little  rhetorical 
culture,  a  bad  voice,  and,  at  first,  indistinct  express- 
ion ;  but  he  was  at  home  with  his  Bible  and  his  God ; 


14  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

he  loved  his  people,  he  believed  in  his  divine  mission. 
One  of  his  biographers,  Burlamecchi,  says :  '  'The  effect 
of  his  preaching,  both  on  his  hearers  and  himself,  was 
wonderful.  He  soared  into  ecstasy  and  electrified  men 
as  with  sudden  shocks.  Once,  when  he  preached  on 
'  the  Deluge,  as  he  ascended  the  pulpit,  the  people  saw 
"he  was  laboring  under  the  strongest  emotion.  Gazing 
across  them,  he  gave  out  the  text,  '  Behold  I,  even  I 
do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth  ! '  The 
words  and  tone  struck  terror  into  every  heart."  Pico 
della  Mirandola,  who  was  present,  relates  that  a  shud- 
der ran  through  his  whole  frame  and  his  hair  seemed 
to  stand  on  end ;  and  Savonarola  declares  that  he 
himself  was  not  less  moved  than  his  hearers.  Thus 
Savonarola  demonstrates  that  soul-power  counts  for 
more  than  any  other  constituent  element  in  eloquence. 
It  was  not  his  learning  nor  his  logic,  but  the  eager 
embrace  of  his  soul  and  the  veheme7it  pressiire  of  his  zvill 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  rapt  audience  that  conquered 
and  led  them  in  the  way  of  his  divinely  inspired  pur- 
pose. 

If  the  study  of  this  little  book  shall  shed  any  light 
upon  this  element  of  pulpit  preparation  and  inspire  any 
of  my  brethren  with  a  determination  to  develop  and 
employ  this  latent  Psychic  force,  something  will  have 
been  done  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel  after  the 
author  has  been  forgotten. 


Psychic  Power  in  Preaching 


CHAPTER  II 


Psychic  Power  in  Preaching 


WHAT  depths  of  mystery  and  miracle  dwell  in 
that  word  '  *  Power. ' '  Who  can  define  it  ? 
Who  tell  us  where  its  seat  or  fountain  is  ? 
Who  measure  its  dimensions  or  paint  its  features  or 
analyze  its  substance  ?  It  dwells  in  the  flashing  light- 
ning and  falling  dew,  in  imponderable  air  and  mov- 
ing glacier,  in  growing  seed  that  lifts  the  rock  and 
electric  current  that  drives  the  train.  It  swings  the 
planets  in  their  cycles  and  wings  a  whisper  around  the 
globe.  Physical  power  is  a  mystery,  but  Psychical 
power  works  greater  miracles.  A  sentiment  upheaves 
a  nation  ;  a  passion  overturns  an  empire.  Soul-power  ! 
Who  can  sing  its  epic  ?  What  science  determine  its 
measure  or  method?  In  what  ultimate  brain-cell  or 
blood-corpuscle  does  it  reside  ?  ' '  God  hath  spoken 
once,  twice  have  I  heard  this  ;  that  power  belongeth 
unto  God."  And  man,  whom  He  has  created  in  His 
own  image,  humbly  shares  in  this  divine  endowment, 
Luther  said,  ' '  He  that  can  speak  forcefully  to  men 
is  a  man."  That  solitary  monk  who  shook  the  world 
ought  to  know.  Doubtless  he  meant  by  "  a  man  ' '  not 
simply  a  scholar,  nor  a  homilist,  nor  a  theologian,  nor 
a  rhetorician,  but,  in  the  full,  radical  and  robust  sense 
of  the  word — a  man. 

15 


l6  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

Much  of  the  ineffective  preaching  that  courts 
drowsy  ears  or  falls  upon  the  pleased  inertness  of  a 
congregation  is  lacking  in  none  of  the  features  usu- 
ally assigned  in  the  schools  to  the  model  sermon. 
There  is  truth  well  and  definitel}'  expressed,  logically 
compact,  adequately  illustrated  and  rightly  applied. 
Yet  the  people  are  listless.  The  defect  in  many  instan- 
ces is  in  the  want  of  the  man  behind  the  sermon  to 
give  it  propulsion  or  the  man  in  the  sermon  to  give  it 
human  vitality  and  a  grappling,  victorious  energy. 
Preaching  is  divine  truth  plus  a  man.  For  half  a  cen- 
tury the  science  of  preaching  has  accumulated  a  large 
and  opulent  literature.  To  the  garnered  wisdom  of 
earlier  times  it  has  added  standard  works,  periodicals, 
reviews,  text-books  and  lectureships.  Yet,  it  has  not 
kept  pace  with  other  sciences  or  with  the  periodical 
press,  much  less  with  the  higher  secular  literature,  in  its 
grasp  of  public  attention  and  control  of  public  opinion. 

It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  pulpit  of  to-day  is 
less  ruled  by  a  bigoted  fear  of  new  ideas  and  methods 
than  ever  before,  and  more  prompt  to  recognize  and 
utilize  whatever  discoveries  or  results  real  science  may 
offer  to  its  hand. 

It  is  profoundly  significant  to  note  the  increasing 
interest  of  our  ministry  in  the  New  Psychology. 
Emerging  from  the  nebulous  condition  in  which  em- 
piricism and  superstition  rule,  psychic  phenomena  and 
laws  are  assuming  the  features  and  authority  of  a 
science,  and  surely  in  no  field  may  they  more  properly 
have  influence  than  in  the  development  of  the 
preacher's  power. 


PSYCHIC   POWER    IN   PREACHING.  1 7 

The  doctrine  of  the  storage,  conservation  and 
transmutation  of  energy,  in  the  physical  realm,  is  one 
of  profound  interest  and  importance.  It  has  fur- 
nished a  new  working  hypothesis  and  larger  views 
of  God  and  man.  But  there  is  an  energy  invisible 
but  of  infinite  potency  in  the  psychical  realm,  whose 
operations  are  none  the  less  real,  and  whose  study  is 
of  paramount  importance  and  fraught  with  stupend- 
ous results. 

As  the  sources  and  conditions  of  psychic  energy 
are  being  uncovered,  they  are  sure  to  be  brought  more 
and  more  within  the  scope  of  the  preacher's  studies. 
The  relation  between  psychological  facts  and  forces 
and  the  science  of  preaching  is  so  intimate  and  vital 
that  their  consideration  cannot  be  neglected  without 
irreparable  loss,  both  in  pastoral  and  pulpit  work. 
These  facts  and  forces  are,  by  the  scientific  men  of  our 
time,  carefully  separated  from  whatever  is  visionary, 
fraudulent  and  empirical,  and  are  accessible  to  fruitful 
investigation.  The  occult  power  which  produces  the 
phenomena  grouped  under  the  designations  of  hypnot- 
ism, mesmerism,  animal-magnetism,  clairvoyance  and 
telepathy  is  not  a  modern  discovery.  Traces  of  its 
empirical  handling  may  be  found  in  the  East  many 
centuries  ago.  The  "seer"  is  as  old  as  human  his- 
tory ;  the  ' '  magician  ' '  has  always  been  a  recognized 
fact.  His  persistence  and  success  are  by  no  means 
to  be  accounted  for  on  the  theory  of  skilful  deception 
practiced  on  the  credulous,  the  superstitious  and  the 
weak,  or  to  physical  laws  unknown  to  the  mass  of 
men.     There  may  be — and  the  experiments  of  Mr. 


l8  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

Tessla  and  his  co-workers  point  that  way — physical 
media  and  physical  laws  yet  to  be  revealed,  explaining 
certain  marvelous  discoveries  in  the  physical  realm  of 
electrical  action  ;  so  in  the  psychical  realm  there  is  a 
power,  a  medium  and  a  law,  whose  phenomena  are 
abundant,  but  whose  form  and  content  are  yet  to  be 
searched  out.  It  is  claimed  by  skeptics  that  the  inves- 
tigation of  these  psychical  phenomena  will  be  fatal  to 
the  teachings  of  Christianity  ;  but  as  other  develop- 
ments of  real  science,  such  as  astronomy,  geology, 
biology  and  antiquarian  discovery  have,  in  turn,  been 
announced  as  oracles  of  doom  to  the  Bible,  and  as  each 
has,  in  due  time,  blest  what  it  was  expected  to  curse, 
so  will  the  ' '  New  Psychology  ' '  and  the  ' '  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  "  and  all  conscientious  Science 
prove  to  be  the  handmaid  of  the  pulpit.  The. truth 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  truth. 

Experiments,  conducted  for  the  last  quarter  cen- 
tury by  many  eminent  scientists,  prove  the  marvelous 
power  which  one  soul  may  exercise  over  another,  pro- 
ducing not  merely  physical  movements  but  mental 
processes  and  moral  emotions  in  the  subject.  "If  it 
be  true,"  a  distinguished  psychologist  has  said,  "  that 
one  mind  can  influence  another  and  convey  thoughts 
and  ideas  to  it  without  using  the  ordinary  avenues  of 
the  senses,  such  a  fact  is  far  more  scientifically  extra- 
ordinary than  would  be  the  destruction  of  this  globe 
by  another  heavenly  body."  Nevertheless,  there  is 
abundant  and  indisputable  evidence  of  the  fact  produced 
by  the  several  "  Societies  for  Psychical  Research,"  as 
well  as  other  reliable  testimony.     If  mind  can  thus 


PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING.  I9 

influence  mind  independently  of  the  senses  (just  as  we 
know  electrical  transmission  can  be  made  independ- 
ently of  the  wire)  certainly  when  we  can  call  in  the 
vehicular  aid  of  sight  and  hearing,  with  their  bound- 
less resources,  the  pulpit  should  receive  a  new  impetus 
in  the  evolution  of  power.  This  evolution  should  be 
in  two  directions — the  increase  of  psychic  force  and 
the  growth  of  spiritual  power  ;  and  these  two  are  in- 
timately related. 

By  the  preacher's  Psychic  Force  I  mean  his  per- 
sonal force  as  distinguished  from  the  force  of  his  logic, 
his  rhetoric  or  of  the  truth  itself,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
from  the  supernatural  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit  on 
the  other.  It  is  the  energy  of  the  preacher' s  soul  in 
contact  with  that  of  the  hearer.  Says  H.  W.  Beecher  : 
' '  The  living  force  of  the  living  soul  upon  living  souls 
for  the  sake  of  their  transformation  is  the  fundamen- 
tal idea  of  preaching. ' ' 

Psychic  force  is  an  active  element  in  all  effective 
pulpit  work.  If  I  were  to  group  the  three  component 
factors  in  an  effective  sermon,  they  would  be:  i. 
Adequate  presentation  of  the  truth.  2.  Psychic  Force. 
3.  Divine  Influence  ;  and  that  would  be  the  ascending 
order  of  their  relative  importance.  This  Psychic  force 
has  its  own  function  and  action,  as  real  as  electricity 
in  nature.  Electricity  may  impel  the  machinery  or 
light  the  town,  but  it  cannot  shape  a  flower  nor  make 
the  deaf  to  hear.  So  psychic  force  does  not  reveal  the 
truth  nor  renew  the  heart ;  its  function  is  to  quicken 
the  soul's  pulse,  sway  the  will,  awake  to  action.  What 
it",  is  in  its  essence   we  are  unable  in  our  present  con- 


20  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

dition  of  knowledge  to  state — just  as  we  are  unable  to 
determine  the  genesis  and  content  of  electricity.  Per- 
haps if  traced  each  to  its  last  retreat  we  should  find 
they  had  a  common  birth.  The  worshipers  of  light 
in  all  ages  have  been  the  loftiest  thinkers  and  the 
purest  livers.  He  who  said,  "I  am  this  world's 
Light,"  at  once  announced  himself  the  "  desire  of  all 
nations."  But  it  is  only  of  late  that  light  is  found  to 
be  a  form  of  force,  and  that  it  is  not  a  simple  element 
but  exceedingly  complex.  It  is  not  incredible  that  one 
or  more  of  its  forms  and  ingredients  may  reside,  with 
concentrated  intensity,  in  those  natures  we  call  ' '  mag- 
netic," because  they  have  a  mysterious  superiority 
over  other  natures  in  the  way  of  insight  and  dynamic 
energ}' — are  able  to  analyze,  to  attract,  to  excite  and 
subdue  others  at  will. 

A  man  may  possess  a  sound  mind,  be  a  good  soul, 
in  both  senses,  be  of  a  loving  spirit  and  yet  possess 
little  will  power.  He  may  be  poured  into  any  mould 
and  keep  shape  in  none.  On  the  other  hand,  a  man 
ma}^  have  but  moderate  abilities  and  yet  attain  great 
success  because  he  possesses  a  forceful  will.  It  is  the 
will  that  enables  a  man  to  project  his  intellectual  pro- 
cesses into  the  minds  of  others.  A  remarkable  instance 
of  will  power  in  conquering  a  hearing  and  establishing 
a  permanent  control  over  the  minds  of  men  is  furnished 
by  Benjamin  Disraeli  in  the  English  House  of  Com- 
mons. An  alien,  handicapped  by  his  early  avocations, 
at  first  the  House  refused  to  li.sten  to  him.  "You 
shall  hear  me  !  "  he  cried.  And  irresistibly  he  rose 
step  by  step  till  he  not  only  swayed  the  House  but  the 


PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING.  21 

nation  as  prime-minister,  with  a  solid  array  of  the  best 
bred  Norman-descended  patricians  of  England  at  his 
back  yielding  ready  obedience  to  his  wishes. 

Examples  of  this  masterfulness  may  be  profit- 
ably studied  in  the  lives  of  such  characters  as 
William  the  Silent,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Napoleon 
I.,  Warren  Hastings,  Bismarck  ;  still  better  in  John 
Knox,  Luther,  Savonarola,  Dr.  Livingstone  and 
"Chinese  Gordon."  George  Dawson,  that  English 
reformer  and  preacher,  whose  varied  eloquence  so 
powerfully  moved  all  classes  of  minds,  used  to  say, 
"  Whenever  I  address  men  I  determine  that  they  shall 
listen.''  And  they  did,  with  rapt  attention  to  the  end. 
William  Hazlitt  remarks  that  ' '  The  orator  is  only 
concerned  to  give  a  tone  of  masculine  firmness  to  the 
will,  to  brace  the  sinews  of  the  mind.  The  speaker 
must  be  confident,  inflexible,  uncontrollable,  overcom- 
ing all  opposition  by  his  ardor  and  impetuosity.  We 
command  others  by  power,  by  passion,  by  will." 

But  w4iile  the  amount  of  this  power  differs  in  dif- 
ferent men,  and  is  variable  in  the  same  man,  probably 
none  are  destitute  of  it  by  nature.  There  are  latent 
and  occult  energies  in  all  our  souls  that  only  need  the 
excitation  of  an  earnest  purpose  to  impel  men  toward 
God  and  the  right,  and  intimate  touch  with  the  source 
of  all  light  and  power  in  order  to  become,  like  His  own, 
cflQuent,  radiating  and  fructifying.  By  habitual  inac- 
tion or  excess  such  power  may  become  torpid  or  enfee- 
bled, and  by  normal  exercise  and  education  may  be 
developed.  A  man  w^iose  nature  is  contributive  and 
transmissive  of  moral  and  emotive  life  expends  power, 


22  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

in  a  conscious  or  unconscious  way  unknown  to  ordinary 
mortals.  Contact  with  men  taps  his  psychic  reservoir 
just  as  the  ripe  olive  drips  at  a  little  pressure,  or  the 
frankincense  becomes  odoriferous  at  the  touch  of  fire. 
"There  are  men,"  says  Professor  E.  P.  Thwing,  "who 
would  exhale  a  spicy,  pungent  life,  if  they  knew  how 
to  loosen  and  liberate  the  contents  of  their  being.  But 
all  their  life  they  are  under  some  physical  or  social  or 
moral  restraint.  Of  course  this  donative,  communica- 
tive nature  is  partly  a  gift,  but  it  is  vasth^  more — a 
growth.  Thomas  Aquinas' s  *^a/>/ww«  sangui7iis,fl7t- 
minis^  flaiimiis'  will  surely  melt  these  gelid  and  fire 
these  fearful  souls.  They  can  develop  a  nature  more 
porous  and  distributive  if  they  would  use  proper  means. 
A  man  who  is  in  possession  of  that  subtle  something 
which  enthralls  men  knows  that  he  can  emit  or  retain 
it.  He  can  husband  those  psychic  forces  which  are 
peculiarly  his  own,  till  he  finds  himself  in  conjunction 
with  absorbent,  responsive  souls.  Then  he  lifts  the 
sluice-gates  of  his  affluent  and  exuberant  being  and 
enriches  them  with  its  treasured  contents." 

But  many  a  preacher,  who  is  the  life  of  a  company 
of  congenial  friends,  whose  conversation  at  home  or 
whose  after-dinner  speech  is  contagious  wit  and  vital 
thought  itself,  finds  himself  in  the  pulpit  constricted 
in  soul  and  speech.  He  is  no  longer  a  man,  h\x\.  presto! 
has  become  a  minister,  a  religious  pedagogue,  a  dig- 
nitary, forsooth,  or  some  other  sort  of  unhuman  buck- 
ram, careful  to  maintain  the  clerical  proprieties  and 
not  to  diminish  the  proper  distance  between  the 
"pulpit"    and   the  "pews."      Confidence,   sympathy, 


PSYCHIC   POWER    IN   PREACHING.  23 

Spontaneity,  reciprocity  are  all  wanting,  and  this  not 
with  "malice  aforethought,"  but  through  a  false  ideal, 
or  nervous  tension,  or  want  of  daily  heart-touch  with 
his  people,  or  some  other  cause  quite  remediable,  if  he 
-loills  to  be  his  real  self  and  all  there  is  of  him  offered 
and  sacrificed  for  the  people. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  the  building  of  the 
sermon  in  the  study,  its  elaboration  as  a  literary 
achievement  occupies  almost  the  whole  horizon  of  the 
preacher's  outlook  in  reference  to  his  pulpit.  In  addi- 
tion the  devout  man  includes  a  fervent  invocation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  but  all  the  time  he  ignores  the  value 
and  necessity  of  his  own  human  spirit  when  in  vigor- 
ous action,  rallying  and  compelling  the  thoughts  which 
his  pen  has  armed  with  words,  to  move — to  march — to 
charge — to  fight,  hand-to-hand,  and  to  conquer. 

In  a  large  view,  and  yet  a  scientific  one,  it  may  be 
said  that  Conception,  Imagination,  Moral  Kmotion, 
Enthusiasm  and  Will,  all  enter  into  combination  in 
Psychic  Force. 

Even  in  the  planning  and  elaboration  of  the  ser- 
mon we  recognize  the  need  of  this  force;  when  we  feel 
the  varying  degrees  of  ability  to  grapple  with  the  text 
and  compel  it  to  yield  the  treasure  that  we  know  it 
hides,  the  abilit}^  to  "throw  one's  self  into"  the  work 
in  hand,  as  we  often  express  it.  At  times  a  vital  thrill 
]iours  itself  from  brain  to  pen,  and  the  sermon  is  born 
a  living  and  a  holy  thing,  while  at  others  it  seems  but 
a  well-constructed  and  decorated  dummy,  with  eyes 
that  see  not  and  a  tongue  that  speaks  not  and  hands 
that  hold  not  forth  the  living  bread. 


24  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

But  it  is  especially  in  the  pulpit,  confronting  the 
people,  in  the  critical  hour  of  all  the  week  for  them 
and  for  him — the  expectant  hundreds  looking  into  his 
face  and  ready  to  be  moved,  swayed  and  ruled  by  his 
message — that  the  need  of  psychic  energy  appears  most 
imperative — that  personal  force,  in  a  word,  which 
quickens  attention,  kindles  imagination,  awakens  affec- 
tion, vitalizes  the  will  and  moves  all  in  the  direction 
of  our  purpose.  The  sermon  is  not  an  end  in  itself  ; 
it  may  not  be  even  a  power  in  itself  ;  more  strictly  it 
is  a  vehicle  of  power,  an  instrument  through  which 
psychic  force  may  produce  certain  intellectual  and 
moral  changes.  Above  all,  the  psychic  energy  of  the 
preacher  is  the  instrument  by  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
produces  supernatural  and  eternal  results.  What  Leib- 
nitz says  is  in  a  higher  sense  true  of  the  Divine  Spirit : 
''Un  5^z^/ esprit,  qui  est  universel  et  qui  anime  tout 
V  univers,  co^nvie  un  meme  souffle de  vejitfait  soiuier  diffcr- 
eme7it  divers  hiyaux  d' org iLcy  So  the  divine  breath, 
animating  all  the  universe  of  souls,  will  produce  very 
different  notes  from  organ  pipes  dust-choked  and 
defective  from  what  it  would  were  every  part  of  the 
human  mechanism  clean,  compact,  well-voiced  and  in 
perfect  diapason.  Pascal  says  man  is  "a  thinking 
reed ' '  — by  which  I  suppose  he  means  a  vi iisical ' '  reed ; ' ' 
— but  a  trumpet-blast  cannot  be  produced  upon  a  flute, 
much  less  can  the  orchestral  power  of  the  organ  come 
from  the  shepherd's  "wheaten  pipe."  Hence  physico- 
psychical  development  is  one  of  the  most  important 
parts  of  the  preacher's  education.  As  a  sword  wielded 
by  a  nerveless  arm  will  fail  of  execution,  no  matter 


PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING.  25 

how  fine  its  temper  or  how  keen  its  edge,  even  so  a 
sermon  will  produce  but  a  still-born  assent  or  languid 
indifference  if  it  is  not  energized  by  vigorous  psychical 
conditions  in  the  man  who  utters  it.  The  arrow  of 
truth  may  be  a  polished  shaft,  flashing  and  straight  as 
a  ray  of  light,  the  bow  may  be  an  ideal  of  elastic 
strength,  but  for  accuracy  of  aim  and  carrying  power, 
all  depends  on  the  nerve-force  of  the  archer,  a  ner\-e- 
force  that  has  been  healthfully  generated,  and,  work- 
ing through  a  thousand  delicate  ramifications,  gives 
clearness  to  the  eye,  tensile  grip  to  the  fingers  and 
steady  contractile  movement  to  every  muscle. 

There  is  a  tremendous  electric  potenc)-  stored  in 
the  human  soul  when  kept  in  harmony  with  God's 
will  and  made  the  channel  of  His  vital  purpose.  And 
such  a  soul,  guided  by  clear  intellectual  perceptions 
of  the  truth  and  moved  by  a  powerful  emotion,  con- 
stitutes a  psychic  power  which  no  mere  marshaling  of 
logic  or  rhetorical  art  can  produce.  It  is  life,  that 
"fier}-  particle,"  rt  Seivov  as  Dr.  Brown  would  say. 
Its  quantity  and  quality  will  largely  vary  according  to 
the  constitution  and  temperament  of  each  man.  The 
nerA^ous,  sanguine  temperament,  redundant  in  elec- 
trical vigor,  will  possess  more  of  it  than  the  phleg- 
matic nature.  There  are  men  susceptible  and  recep- 
tive who  are  almost  destitute  of  the  power  to  impart 
force.  It  may  be  said  in  general  that  a  vigorous  mind 
in  a  vigorous  body  furnishes  a  basis  of  psychic  force. 
The  brain  must  be  health}^  nerves  well  strung  and 
heart  strong.  From  this  substructure  must  spring  the 
glow  of  enthusiasm,  the  outflow  of  sympathy,  the  reso- 


26  PSYCHIC    rOWER    IN   PREACHING. 

luteness  of  conviction  and  the  will  to  co?iqiier.  As  if 
the  cells  of  an  electric  battery  each  contained  a  differ- 
ent acid,  and  wires  from  each  combined  to  furnish  the 
electric  current,  so  each  of  the  reservoirs  of  power  sup- 
plies its  part  in  generating  psychic  force  in  its  higher 
forms. 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  has  said  :  "  The  orator 
— I  do  not  mean  the  poor  slave  of  a  manuscript,  who 
takes  his  thought  chilled  and  stiffened  from  its  mould, 
— impassioned  speaker  who  pours  it  forth  corruscating 
from  the  furnace — the  orator  only  becomes  our  master 
at  the  moment  when  he  is  himself  captured,  taken  pos- 
session of  by  a  sudden  rush  of  fresh  inspiration.  How 
well  we  know  the  flash  of  the  eye,  the  thrill  of  the 
voice,  which  are  the  signature  and  symbol  of  nascent 
thought — thought  just  entering  into  consciousness,  in 
which  condition,  as  in  the  case  of  the  chemist's  ele- 
ments, it  has  a  combining  force  at  other  times  wholly 
unknown!" 

The  experience  of  such  a  hearer,  swept  along  by 
the  torrent  of  the  speaker's  fervor,  is  familiar,  but  I 
think  Dr.  Holmes  is  mistaken  in  the  idea  that  this  is 
the  only  or  supreme  conquest  of  the  hearer.  Equally 
sure  and  more  enduring  in  results  is  that  deliberate 
girding  of  the  soul  to  a  life  grapple  with  an  audience 
by  a  calm,  steadfast  pressure  of  the  heart  and  will  to 
bring  their  minds  and  affections  into  subjection  and 
response. 

When  Ole  Bull,  the  fascinating  violinist  of  world- 
wide fame,  on  one  occasion  had  melted  a  great  audience 
to  tears,  he  said,  speaking  of  it  to  a  friend  :   "  Do  you 


PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING.  27 

know  that  I  do  not  produce  these  effects  by  the  mere 
sound  of  luy  violin?  I  produce  them  by  a  direct  action 
of  my  mifid  upon  the  audience.  I  employ  the  tones  of 
the  instrument  simply  for  the  purpose  of  opening  the 
channels  through  which  I,  myself,  act  upon  their 
hearts. ' '  Here  is  n6t  the  rush  of  a  transient  inspira- 
tion, carrying  all  before  it,  but  a  deliberate  purpose 
steadily  pressing  forward  to  accomplish  its  end. 

Talma,  the  tragedian,  used  to  say  that  thinking 
and  feeling  made  the  largest  part  of  his  art.  To  move 
requires  not  only  what  Cicero  calls  * '  the  eloquence  of 
the  bod}'^,"  but  that  of  the  emotions  as  well.  The  inti- 
mate relation  between  thought  and  language  ;  between 
feeling  and  its  true,  yet  varied,  modes  of  expression;  the 
wonderful  symbolism  of  a  heart  yearning  to  communi- 
cate itself  :  all  prove  how  profound  and  subjective  are 
the  sources  of  power  in  preaching.  Nor  can  we  over-esti- 
mate the  value  of  this  spontaneous  impulse  or  vigor- 
ous determination  to  grasp  the  hearer's  mind  and  heart 
with  our  own,  to  project  our  thought,  emotion,  will, 
into  his.  In  how  many  cases  where  the  argument  is 
complete  and  the  style  ideal  is  the  sermon  powerless 
because  the  insinuating,  embracing  and  resistless  force 
of  a  glowing  heart,  a  blending  sympathy  and  a  reso- 
lute will  are  wanting  to  the  whole  demonstration. 

The  following  words  of  M.  de  Cormenin,  in  ad- 
dressing a  body  of  French  preachers,  may  properly 
close  this  chapter,  as  it  is  full  of  lively  suggestion  and 
in  the  line  of  our  thought : 

* '  Select  with  a  quick  and  confident  instinct,  from 
among  the  methods  available  to  jou,  the  method  of 


28  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

the  day,  which  may  not  be  the  most  solid,  but  which, 
considering  the  disposition  of  men's  minds,  the  nature 
of  the  matter  in  hand — may  be  the  best  adapted  for 
making  an  impression  on  your  audience. 

'  'Take  strong  hold  of  their  attention.  Stir  up  their 
pity  or  indignation,  their  sympathies,  or  their  pride. 
Appear  to  be  animated  by  their  breath,  all  the  while 
you  are  communicating  yours  to  them.  When  you 
have  in  some  degree  detached  their  souls  from  their 
bodies  and  they  come  and  group  themselves  of  their 
own  accord  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit,  riveted  beneath 
the  influence  of  your  glance  ;  then  do  not  dally  with 
them,  for  the}^  are  yours,  your  soul  having,  as  it  may 
be  truly  said,  passed  into  theirs.  Look,  now,  how 
they  follow  its  ebb  and  flow  !  how  they  will  as  you 
will  !  how  they  act  as  you  act  !  But  persist,  give  them 
no  rest ;  press  your  discourse  home — and  you  will 
soon  see  all  bosoms  panting  because  yours  pants  ;  all 
eyes  kindling  because  yours  emit  flame,  or  filling  with 
tears  because  you  grow  tender.  You  will  see  all  the 
hearers  hanging  on  your  lips  through  the  attraction  of 
persuasion  ;  or,  rather,  you  will  see  nothing,  for  you 
yourself  will  be  under  the  spell  of  your  own  emotion  ; 
you  will  bend,  you  will  succumb  under  your  own  gen- 
ius, and  you  will  be  more  eloquent  the  less  effort  you 
make  to  appear  so." 


The  Personal  Factor  in  Preaching 


CHAPTER   III 


The  Personal  Factor  in  Preaching 

A  YOUNG  Jewish  peasant  stood  beneath  Judean 
heavens  and   said,    "I   am  the  truth."     Only 
One  could  have  said  that  without  madness.    But 
as  we  study  His  historj^  in  the  gospels  and  in  the  ages, 
we  recognize  Him  as  the  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man, 
Source  of  eternal  life  and  light. 

The  personal  Christ  still  lives  in  that  Gospel  of 
which  he  said,  "The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you, 
they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life. ' '  The  word  which 
the  preacher  is  called  to  hold  forth  is  distinctively^ 
' '  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. ' '  So  completely  is  the 
persojial  quality  and  quickening  interblended  with  the 
message,  that  while  it  takes  dogmatic,  scientific  and 
philosophic  forms,  its  most  real  and,  indeed,  its  only 
perfect  expression  is  through  the  preacher's  own  char- 
acter and  life  to  the  degree  in  which  Christ  dwells  in 
him.  The  truth  must  not  come  alone  through  the 
laboratory  of  his  brain,  but  must  be  a  living  product, 
conceived  and  carried  in  his  soul,  growing  and  strug- 
gling toward  birth — a  living  thing  into  which  the  man 
has  poured  the  warm  blood  of  his  heart  and  the  energy 
of  his  will.  Some  preachers  are  scarcely  more  than 
talking  manikins  ;  the  sermon  is  no  more  a  part  of 
them  than  the  telephonic  message  is  a  part  of  the  wire 
which  conveys  it. 

29 


30  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

The  true  preacher  utters  his  message  as  one  of  the 
consummate  results  of  his  personal  knowledge  ;  it  has 
the  arterial  blood-streak  of  experience  ;  in  a  finite 
and  secondary  way  he  is  the  incarnation  of  the  truth, 
even  as  Christ  was  in  an  original  and  infinite  way. 
For  this  reason  the  book  can  never  supplant  the 
preacher. 

It  was  the  large  infusion  of  this  personal  force 
that  made  the  throng  press  around  Paul  at  Athens, 
and  Chrysostom  at  Constantinople,  and  Savonarola  in 
Florence  ;  and  it  is  the  same  with  every  preacher  that 
draws  men  to  God — with  Robertson  of  Brighton,  and 
Spurgeon  of  London,  and  Brooks  of  Boston,  and 
Beecher  of  Brooklyn.  The  multitudes  have  not 
wearied  of  preaching,  but  only  of  the  average  preacher. 
Let  any  man  put  a  large,  loving,  vital  manhood,  rich 
with  the  humanities,  into  his  ministrations,  and  peo- 
ple will  respond  to  him.  The  preacher's  soul  is  a 
prism  through  which  the  white  and  dazzling  light  of 
spiritual  truth  passes,  and  receives  in  passing  human 
coloring  and  refraction  along  the  lines  of  human  want 
and  sensibility.  Truth  is  transmuted  into  life  only 
through  personality. 

The  preacher's  personality  is  not  obtrusive,  hardly 
objective,  in  his  pulpit  work  :  in  so  far  as  he  is  self- 
conscious  he  is  weak,  in  so  far  as  egotistic  he  is  offen- 
sive. In  his  self-forgetfulness,  his  abandon,  is  the 
hiding  of  his  power.  He  who  confronts  an  audience 
with  "  I  am  Sir  Oracle  "  depicted  in  his  manner  or 
message,  only  amuses  or  repels ;  the  personality  of 
which  we  speak  reveals  itself  in  spite  of  him,  and  is  felt 


tHE   PERSONAL   FACTOR    IN   PREACHING.  3 1 

by  the  audience  like  an  invisible  radiation  or  intangible 
perfume.  In  revelation,  the  prophet,  poet,  historian, 
evangelist,  apostle  is  recognized  by  the  careful  stu- 
dent b}'^  his  individuality.  He  is  not  a  mere  type- 
writer obeying  the  divine  finger-touch. 

The  sermon  is  a  birth  from  two  worlds — the 
father  is  divine,  but  the  mother  is  human,  even  as  it 
was  with  Christ,  "  the  Truth,"  in  the  beginning  ;  and 
it  bears  the  features  of  the  heavenly  and  the  coiinte- 
nance  of  the  earthly  parentage.  A  wholesome,  virile, 
genial  character,  therefore,  will  impart  itself  to  the 
sermon  ;  the  same  is  true  of  one  that  is  weak,  vain 
and  sordid.  Emerson  says  :  ' '  The  reason  why  we  feel 
one  man's  presence  and  do  not  feel  another's  is  as  sim- 
ple as  gravity.  This  is  a  natural  force;  the  light,  heat 
and  all  nature  co-operate  with  it. "  So  it  may  be  said 
character  is  an  element  with  which  the  light,  warmth 
and  energy  of  truth  co-operate  and,  as  by  an  elective 
affinity,  impart  and  receive,  reciprocally,  quality  and 
tone. 

Herein  we  see  the  need  of  genuineness,  disinter- 
estedness, strength,  spirituality,  and — in  a  word — 
Christlikeness.  What  he  is  as  a  vian  is  of  primary 
consequence ;  what  he  will  be  as  a  preaching  man  is 
dependent  on  that.  Some  men  grow  in  theologic  and 
rhetoric  fullness  and  felicity  without  a  corresponding 
growth  in  manfulness,  and  will  orate  about  truth  and 
charity  while  consciously  or  unconsciously  false,  self- 
centered  and  self-circumferenced.  Such  a  man  is 
sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal. 

The  building  of  character  is  the  highest  ideal  and 


32  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

the  most  serious  work  of  life.  In  the  preacher  it  is 
not  completed  when  he  begins  to  be  a  builder  of  char- 
acter in  others.  He  is  bound  to  raise  the  volume  and 
value  of  his  own  manhood  to  its  highest  perfection. 
He  must  be  educated  manward,  as  well  as  Godward, 
through  the  whole  range  of  his  tripartite  nature. 

To  this  end  the  physical  basis  of  manhood  must 
receive  attention.  Herbert  Spencer  says  :  "  He  that 
with  men  is  a  success  must  begin  with  being  a  first- 
class  animal."  The  Abbe  Roux  quotes  a  lecturer  in 
Notre-Dame  as  saying:  "If  one  wishes  to  preach 
well  one  must  have  the  devil  in  one's  body."  If  he 
had  added,  "  and  God  in  his  heart,"  we  should  have 
seen  more  clearly  his  point.  Robust  and  surgent  ani- 
mal force  and  instinct,  such  as  spring  from  splendid 
health  and  natural  passions,  are  a  huge  element  of 
power  in  the  preacher,  when  reined  and  guided  by  the 
dominating  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  interdepend- 
ence of  the  mental  and  even  the  spiritual  with  and 
upon  the  physical  is  such  that  the  culture  which  im- 
proves the  organs  and  regulates  the  functions,  en- 
larges muscle  and  toughens  sinew,  will,  at  the  same 
time,  develop  brain,  broaden  the  soul  and  invigorate 
the  will.  An  erect,  elastic,  graceful  and  firm  bodily 
condition  has  no  small  effect  in  inducing  alertness, 
beauty,  decision  and  firmness  in  mental  and  moral  ac- 
tion. The  healthful  action  of  all  the  vital  and  nerve 
forces  gives  to  the  speaker  an  added  poise,  dignity  and 
reserve  power  which  are  of  high  value  in  acting  upon 
an  audience.  When  both  mind  and  body  are  in  action, 
their  reaction  on  each  other  is  especially  felt.     The 


THE    PERSONAL    FACl'OR    IX    PREACHING.  33 

audience  also  will  take  critical  measure  of  the  preacher 
from  without.  His  physical  appearance  and  move- 
ment is  to  them  an  indication  of  character.  Muscular 
integrity  is  a  natural  ally  of  moral  wholeness.  Robust 
health  and  vigorous  movement  are  generally  magnetic. 
Mental  and  moral  power  sometimes  proceed  from  a 
man  who,  like  Robert  Hall,  is  a  martyr  to  physical 
pain,  but  as  a  rule  the  aspect  and  tone  of  the  physi- 
cally feeble  are  at  a  discount  on  his  impressiveness. 
There  are  men  a  large  part  of  w^hose  magnetism  is  in 
their  fine,  impressive  physique,  men  who  command 
attention  largely  by  a  massive  figure,  a  noble  bearing, 
a  masterful  air  and  an  organ-like  voice. 

Courage  also  he  needs,  the  courage  of  conviction, 
of  the  faith  which  sees  the  invisible  ;  the  courage  of 
his  calling  and  commission  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ. 
He  must  dare  to  be  independent  of  * '  isms ' '  and 
* '  ologies. ' '  The  courage  not  only  to  do  but  to  suffer 
must  be  his.  When  that  knightly  preacher,  Robert- 
son, of  Brighton,  was  warned  by  a  w^oman  that  his  doc- 
trines would  expose  him  to  ostracism  by  the  author- 
ities of  the  Church  of  England,  he  calmly  answered : 
"I  don't  care!"  "But,  Mr.  Robertson,"  was  the 
ominous  w'arning,  "do  3'ou  remember  where  ^  don' t 
care^  brought  the  man?"  "Yes,"  .said  he,  wdth 
utmost  seriousness,  "  to  a  cross. ' '  To  every  brave 
preacher  the  pulpit  will  be  both  a  cross  and  a  throne. 
Crucified  to  self-interest  and  to  fear  of  men,  he  attains 
a  sovereignty  over  men's  .souls.  When  the  aged 
Horatius  was  told  his  son  was  fleeing  from  I  he  combat 
which  decided  the  supremacy  between  Alba  and  Rome 


34  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PRKACHING. 

and,  seeing  his  indignation,  the)'  asked  him  what  his 
son  should  have  done  against  three,  the  old  man  re- 
plied, ' '  He  should  have  died  !  "  A  sublime  answer 
springing  from  a  great  soul  and  bearing  the  man  above 
all  the  weakness  which  pleads  within  us  against  self- 
sacrifice  for  the  truth.  Of  all  the  legitimate  objects  of 
contempt,  none  is  more  consj^icuous  than  a  timid,  com- 
promising or  neutral  minister.  The  poet  Crabbe  is 
represented,  in  the  Rejected  Addresses,  as  illustrating  a 
tj'pe  of  neutrality  not  altogether  extinct  when  he  saj's  : 
"  In  the  view  of  life  and  manners  w^hich  I  present,  my 
clerical  profession  has  taught  me  how  extremely  im- 
proper it  would  be,  by  any  allusion,  however  slight,  to 
give  uneasiness,  however  trivial,  to  any  individual, 
however  foolish  or  wicked."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
spirit  of  a  Chrysostom,  a  Savonarola  and  a  John  Knox 
still  lives  in  a  multitude  of  men,  vvho  daily  illustrate  a 
fearlcvSS  independence  as  champions  for  God  and  hu- 
manity. By  courage  I  do  not  mean  the  sang-froid  of 
ignorance  and  conceit,  nor  the  stolidity  of  the  stoic  in 
whom  contempt  of  others  is  a  shield,  but  the  rational 
and  modest  courage  of  conviction,  faith  and  self-abne- 
gation. 

The  secret  of  many  a  man's  failure  to  rule  others 
is  not  in  the  weakness  of  his  cause  or  of  his  logic,  but 
of  his  own  spirit.  When  Admiral  Dupont  was  explain- 
ing to  Admiral  Farragut  the  reasons  why  he  failed  to 
enter  Charleston  harbor  with  his  fleet  of  ironclads, 
Farragut  listened  till  he  was  through,  and  then  said  : 
"Dupont,  there  is  one  reason  more."  "What  is 
that  ?  "      "  You  did  not  believe  you  could  do  it  !  "     It 


THH    PERSONAL    FACTOR    IN    PREACHING.  35 

lias  been  said  that  a  surgeon  ought  to  have  "  the  heart 
of  a  lion  and  the  hand  of  a  woman,"  and  it  is  certain 
that  the  physician  of  souls  needs  a  relentless  fortitude 
as  much  as  delicate  tact  and  yearning  compassion. 

While  his  mission  brings  with  it  many  fears  which 
oppress  the  stoutest  soul — leading  even  a  Luther  to 
pause  trembling  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit  stairs — yet 
there  are  many  things  to  inspire  his  courage.  Among 
these  is  the  beneficent  relation  he  sustains  to  his  peo- 
ple and  their  trust  in  him.  He  is  to  them  a  father,  or 
at  least  an  elder  brother.  An  apostle  of  grace,  as 
well,  he  stands  there  in  "  the  solemn  joy  of  responsi- 
bilit)^"  and  ministers  to  people  who  are  saying  in 
their  hearts,  ' '  We  are  all  here  present  before  God,  to 
hear  what  He  will  say  unto  us  through  thee."  He 
ought  to  be  courageous  who  knows  that  he  is  repre- 
senting a  throne  of  infinite  authority  and  love ;  who 
preaches  to  save,  and  who  hears  resounding  through 
his  soul  the  word  of  God  to  Moses,  ' '  Certainly  I  will  be 
with  thee, ' '  and  of  Christ  to  his  heralds, ' '  I  am  with  j^ou 
always. ' '  If,  at  times,  surveying  the  vastness  of  his 
task  in  turning  men  to  God,  and  the  smallness  of  his 
native  powers,  his  soul  cries  out,  "Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  ?  "  he  has  only  to  survey  his  .spiritual 
allies  to  shout  in  triumph,  ' '  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me!"  Above  all, 
what  courage  ought  he  to  have  who  is  consciously 
borne  upon  the  tide  of  infinite  power  in  the  direction 
of  God's  supreme  plan,  purpose  and  work  for  man's 
salvation  !  Like  the  Gulf  Stream,  which  in  the  great- 
est drouths  never  fails  and  in  the  coldest  regions  never 


36  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

chills,  displacing  with  its  majestic  course  waters  might- 
ier than  the  Amazon  and  Mississippi  combined,  so  that 
divine  current  ' '  which  makes  for  righteousness  "  is  as 
much  broader  and  mightier  as  the  heavenly  is  superior 
to  the  earthly,  and  is  able  to  carry  him  on  to  results  as 
incalculable  as  they  are  supremely  glorious. 

The  preacher  should  possess  leadership  as  a  per- 
sonal trait.  An  English  statesman  once  said  that  the 
great  need  of  the  people  was  for  men  of  ' '  light  and 
leading. ' '  There  are  men  of  light — some  of  them  even 
belonging  to  the  higher  illuminati — who  fail  in  effi- 
ciency because  deficient  in  leadership,  and  there  are 
men  able  to  lead,  who,  being  lurid  but  not  luminous, 
destitute  of  the  true  light  in  themselves,  lead  men  into 
a  wilderness  or  over  a  precipice.  Light  and  leading 
combined  make  the  safe  and  successful  preacher.  As 
a  man  of  serene  and  spiritual  life  he  interprets  to 
human  souls  the  eternal,  divine  order  and  the  meaning 
of  life — reveals  to  men  their  heart  and  God's  heart  as 
well.  He  is,  through  the  light  that  is  in  him,  the 
poet  of  human  nature,  the  prophet  of  human  attain- 
ment, the  guide  of  human  aspiration.  It  is  because 
he  addresses  himself,  like  his  divine  master,  to  human 
nature's  deeper  wants  that  he  gains  a  hearing.  His 
message  articulates  the  low,  trembling  whispers  that 
wander  through  the  soul,  he  brings  from  afar  faint 
memories  of  a  bygone  purity  and  bliss,  he  lifts  the 
veil  of  the  future  and  gives  man  a  glimpse  of  another 
and  eternal  order  of  things. 

' '  He  points  to  higher  worlds 
And  leads  the  way. " 


THE    PERSONAL   FACTOR   IN   PREACHING.  37 

He  needs  to  be  masterful  as  an  Alpine  guide,  to  have 
the  generalship  that  inspires  confidence  and  heroism 
for  righteousness.  Such  a  leader  was  Arnold  of 
Rugby,  and  Chalmers,  and  Robertson,  and  Gordon. 
Such  a  leader  will  have  that  self-reliance  which  gives 
robustness,  elasticity  and  firmness  in  utterance  and 
action.  Self -distrust  is  weakness  ;  a  consciousness  of 
strength  is  impressive  upon  an  audience,  when 
it  is  not  colored  with  self-importance  or  diluted 
with  self-consciousness.  "  Be  not  dismayed  at  their 
faces,"  is  addressed  to  the  modern  preacher  as 
well  as  to  the  ancient  prophet.  His  power  of  lead- 
ership must  be  compreheyisive.  A  stern  and  vehement 
man,  like  Peter  the  Hermit,  may  be  needful  for  a  great 
crusade  against  the  vices  that  infect  society  or  the  des- 
potisms that  trample  on  souls,  but  a  brotherly  leader- 
ship that  inspires  men  to  the  daily  conquest  over  in- 
dolence, and  procrastination,  and  selfishness  in  an 
unheroic  life  is  more  needful.  The  light  that  shines 
from  him  must  not  be  the  flaring  torch  of  fanatical 
radicalism  any  more  than  the  cold,  electric  shining 
through  opal  shades  of  criticism.  It  must  be  the 
glow  of  sympathy  which  wins  while  it  illumines  and 
inspires  to  effort  while  it  reveals  duty,  even  like  that 
fair  guiding  Star  in  the  East,  ever  leading  to  a  new 
birth  of  Christ  in  the  cradle  of  the  coming  years. 

He  must  be  a  man  of  strong  and  settled  convictions. 
He  must  have  reached  conclusions  in  which  his  judg- 
ment, conscience  and  whole  heart  firmly  rest.  If  a 
man's  love  rebels  against  his  logic,  if  his  doctrine  and 
his  conscience   clash,  he  is  to  that  extent  crippled. 


38  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

There  are  men  who  are  never  quite  sure.  They  seem 
to  consider  every  question  an  unsolved  problem,  every 
doctrine  held  by  the  fathers  open  to  suspicion.  Such 
men  may  entertain  by  their  aerial  balancilig — they 
cannot  lead.  In  a  certain  trial  Daniel  Web.ster  said 
of  the  argument  of  his  opponent :  ' '  Gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  this  man  neither  alights  nor  flies  forward.  He 
hovers.  Why  does  he  not  meet  the  cajse  ?  "  We  have 
too  many  preachers  who  merely  hover  over  the  great 
questions  of  doctrine,  life  and  destiny,  who  neither  fly 
forward  nor  alight,  and  wdio  think  the  highest  philo- 
sophical glory  is  in  holding  things  in  solution  and 
never  announcing  a  conclusion.  More  than  one 
preacher  might  be  the  original  of  a  flashlight  picture 
a  parishioner  made  of  his  late  dear  pastor  :  ' '  He  was 
a  nice  old  man  with  an  evenl}^  balanced  mind  :  one 
part  of  his  mind  thought  he  would  and  one  part 
thought  he  wouldn't."  A  strong  personality  means 
a  rooted  and  muscular  confidence  in  the  great  verities 
of  the  Gospel  and  in  man's  susceptibility  to  them  as 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  aye,  as  the  foremost 
power  in  the  world,  having  always  the  "right  of 
way,"  as  invested  with  the  prestige  of  splendid  super- 
natural triumphs  in  the  past  and  unwasting  energies 
for  the  future. 

That  was  a  bold  reply  of  Mirabeau  to  the  king's 
messengers,  when,  speaking  on  behalf  of  the  French 
Assemblj^,  he  said  :  ' '  Go  tell  j^our  master  that  we  are 
here  by  the  power  of  the  French  people,  and  that  it 
shall  not  be  wrested  from  us  except  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet !  ' '     But  the  preacher  can  sa j  :     "I  am  here 


THE   PERSONAL   FACTOR    IN   PREACHING.  39 

in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  God  ;  O  earth  ! 
earth  !  earth  !  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  !  ' '  More- 
over, he  is  backed  by  eighteen  centuries  of  learning, 
and  virtue,  and  victory,  all  springing  from  the  Gospel, 
by  more  than  ten  millions  of  martyrs  who  have  died 
and  unnumbered  heroes  who  have  lived  to  attest  the 
truth  of  what  he  proclaims  ;  he  is  the  exponent  of  a 
fact  the  most  stupendous  and  a  force  the  most  irresist- 
ible in  the  historj^  of  the  race,  and  he  is  the  tongue 
which  a  present  God  uses  and  to  which  he  says  : 
"  Speak,  and  be  not  afraid,  for  I  am  with  thee."  If 
these  things  be  rooted  in  his  soul  and  have  become 
native  to  the  soil  of  his  thought,  he  will  not  lack 
power,  and  will  often  say  with  Bossuet,  "  The  human 
heart  is  the  most  indomitable  of  all  things,  and  when 
I  see  it  conquered  by  the  truth  I  triumph  and  adore." 
Another  trait  the  preacher  should  possess  and 
cultivate  is  frcs/uicss  of  feeling.  This  is  a  virtue  which 
the  men  most  eminent  in  the  world's  varied  life,  and 
who  have  shaped  the  thought  of  their  day,  have  pos- 
sessed. It  reveals  itself  in  their  art,  their  poetry, 
their  literary  work,  their  statesmanship  and  pre-emi- 
nently in  their  platform  and  pulpit.  I  have  only  need 
to  mention  the  names  of  Shakespeare,  Burns,  Michel- 
angelo, Mozart,  Gladstone,  Beecher,  Guthrie  and 
Spurgeon  to  bring  up  portraits  of  men  who  suggested 
a  perennial  youth  of  heart  and  brain.  A  sympathy 
with  the  ever  new  phases  of  the  natural  world,  with 
brightness  of  .sky  and  bloom  of  earth,  a  quick  inter- 
est in  the  passing  panorama  of  the  world's  current  his- 
tory and  moral  trend,  an  active  and  influential  partici- 


40  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

pation  in  the  social  and  civic  reforms  of  his  day,  and 
especially  in  the  movements  that  interest  the  young 
people,  all  will  impart  zest  and  heartiness,  marrow  and 
momentum  to  his  preaching. 

True,  the  faithful  minister  carries  many  burdens  ; 
his  contact  with  the  seamy  side  of  human  life  has 
much  in  it  to  age  him,  the  tragedy  of  the  world's  sin 
and  the  weariness  of  its  sorrow,  the  ponderous  prob- 
lems connected  with  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the 
stress  of  men's  daily  wants  have  a  tendency  to  wear 
out  his  freshness  of  delight  in  life  and  produce  a  pre- 
ternatural gravity,  if  not  grimness  of  spirit.  These 
influences  he  must  conquer.  Really  there  is  no  life  so 
joyous,  as  there  is  no  vocation  so  elevating,  as  that  of 
him  "who  bringeth  good  tidings  and  publisheth 
peace."  His  mission  brings  him  into  relations  of 
moral  beauty  and  pathos  and  inspiring  hope  and  ten- 
derness with  a  multitude  of  all  ages  and  conditions, 
who  look  trustfully  and  affectionately  up  into  his  face. 
If  he  be  a  normally  strong  and  healthy  spirit,  the  de- 
lights of  his  vocation  never  stale  ;  every  phase  of  his 
calling,  ever}^  period  of  his  ministry,  supplies  some  new 
charm  and  inspiration.     He  should  be 

"A  man  of  cheerful  yesterdays  and  bright  to-morrows. " 

It  is  true  there  are  preachers  who  grow  stereotyped, 
whose  hearts  grow  prematurely  gray  and  whose  brains 
become  a  mere  dusty  sermon  factory.  Their  minds 
and  their  discourses  are  not  a  blooming  and  moist 
garden  full  of  fresh  perfumes,  but  like  a  herbarium 
among  whose  dried  flowers  even  the  Rose  of  Sharon 
seems  to  have  a  stale  and  musty  odor.     Their  smiles 


THE  PERSONAL   FACTOR   IN   PREACHING.  4I 

are  solemn  and  studied,  their  tears  are  deliberate,  they 
excite  themselves  mechanically,  their  passion  is  theat- 
rical, their  pathos  is  warmed  over,  in  their  thunder 
you  hear  the  rattle  of  the  sheet-iron  and  the}''  rise  on 
the  pinions  of  eloquence  like  the  tame  eagle  when  dis- 
turbed from  the  perch.  Praxiteles  gave  animation 
to  the  marble  statue  ;  they  petrify  living  truths. 

But  a  man  may  keep  his  brain  and  heart  forever 
fresh  and  springlike  by  drinking  of  the  river  of  God's 
pleasure,  in  nature,  in  human  life,  in  the  life  especially 
of  the  young,  entering  with  sympathy  into  their  jubi- 
lant spontaneity,  hopefulness  and  good  cheer,  above 
all,  by  browsing  in  the  perennial  dewy  and  blooming 
fields  of  the  living  Word. 

A  certain  quality  of  vigorous  youthfulness  may 
be  gained  by  an  original  and  natural  communion  with 
the  real  world  of  human  activities  and  motive  forces, 
keeping  in  the  living  current  of  to-day's  thinking  and 
passionate  ambitions.  The  man  of  affairs  must  not  be 
lost  and  submerged  in  the  student,  the  dreamer. 
Much,  to  be  sure,  may  be  learned  of  the  phases  of 
human  life  and  the  working  of  men's  passions  from 
our  libraries.  Poets  like  Shakespeare  and  Goethe  and 
philosophers  like  Bacon  and  Plato  may  open  to  us,  if 
we  are  critical  students,  much  that  is  valuable  in  this 
realm  ;  history  may  set  before  us  illustrations,  ideals 
and  models  ;  teachers  may  suggest  to  us  methods  of 
study,  but  all  the.se  helps  will  not  take  the  place  of 
close  contemplation  of  the  concrete  and  living  speci- 
mens of  humanity  among  whom  we  move.  What  is  it 
we  say  to  all  who  would  learn  to  paint  ?   We  tell  them 


42  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

they  will  never  learn  by  copying  ;  they  must  draw 
from  life  and  paint  in  the  open  laboratory  of  the  mas- 
ter-painter, the  Sunbeam  ;  they  must  see  and  record 
with  their  brush  what  they  see  ;  then  they  will  be  true 
and,  therefore,  ever  new  in  feeling  and  expression. 
The  mere  copyist  never  paints  either  with  pen  or 
pencil  that  which  is  his  own  or  that  moves  the  heart 
by  its  novelty  or  reality.  A  habit  of  looking  deeply 
into  natural  phenomena,  of  studying  springs  of  action, 
the  psychology  of  life  and  character,  will  impart 
breadth  and  richness  and  perennial  freshness  to  our 
currents  of  thought  and  emotion. 

Freshness  of  feeling  will  also  be  preserved  by 
maintaining  a  healthy  appetite  and  digestion.  Dys- 
pepsia  and  the  worries  that  wait  upon  its  leaden  steps 
are  terribly  ageing.  Care  for  the  hygienics  and 
athletics  of  his  entire  nature  will  reward  him  openly. 
He  must  not  only  work  faithfully,  but  play  regularly; 
must  not  only  gird  with  mighty  tension,  but  relax  and 
rest  at  frequent  interv^als  and  give  himself  abundant 
sleep.  Even  the  all-enduring  camel  must  have  his 
burden  unloosed  at  night,  but  many  a  preacher  never 
lays  aside  his  heavy  pack  ;  he  carries  his  church 
burdens  the  whole  twentj^-four  hours  and  the  whole 
twelve  months  through,  and  is  writing  sermons  and 
settling  disputes  and  raising  church  debts  in  his 
dreams.  Is  it  any  Vvonder  that  his  soul  grows  seedy, 
and  that  he  becomes  mentally  round-shouldered  and 
decrepit  ? 

The  preacher's  work,  to  one  who  loves  it,  whose 
soul  is  free-moving  and  eager  in  it,   is  itself  an  in- 


THE   PERSONAL    FACTOR    IN    PREACHING.  43 

spiration.  It  contains  in  itself,  in  its  very  processes  and 
habits,  direct  and  wonderful  power  to  invigorate  bod}' 
and  soul.  When  we  consider  the  intimate  connec- 
tion and  interdependence  of  the  mental  and  physical 
realms  of  our  nature,  this  ought  to  be  manifest.  The 
stimulus  the  body  receives  from  the  awakened,  girded, 
active  mind,  the  gladdened  heart  and  the  upborne 
soul  in  its  entirety  ought  not  to  be  other  than  refresh- 
ing to  the  whole  nature. 

Passing  upward,  I  remark  that  the  preacher 
should  have  a  consecrated  personality.  In  a  material- 
istic and  ambitious  age  this  consideration  is  none  too 
popular.  In  the  pulpit  work  (and  pastoral  work  as 
well)  of  many  a  popular  but  powerless  and  perplexed 
minister  this  is  the  one  thing  lacking.  When  the 
necfomancers  of  the  middle  ages  were  spending  their 
days  and  nights  in  experimenting  toward  the  making 
of  gold  by  chemical  process,  it  used  to  seem  to  them 
that  only  one  thing  was  needed  to  crown  their  efforts 
with  complete  success.  Often  their  combinations 
would  seem  to  demand  but  a  single  substance  to  pre- 
cipitate or  crystallize  into  golden  metal.  But  this  one 
substance  they  never  found,  and  so  their  mortars  and 
crucibles  contained  nothing  precious.  Somewhat  sim- 
ilar to  these  worthless  compounds  lacking  only  a  sin- 
gle element,  are  those  pulpit  ministrations  which  omit 
"for  Christ's  sake"  from  their  strivings  after  success. 
This  is  the  one  thing  which  combines  all  thought  and 
effort  in  a  divine  result.  The  one  thing  whose  absence 
leaves  but  a  poor  residuum.  An  audience  can  com- 
monly detect  the  absence  of  this  element  of  highest 


44  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

worth.  Christ  enthroned  in  the  heart,  every  ambition, 
every  personal  aim,  every  effort  concentrated  in  a 
sublimely  humble  surrender  to  His  purposes,  His 
love  inflaming,  constraining — this  is  power.  Christ 
shining  in  the  life  is  eloquent  and  persuasive  ere  the  lips 
are  opened,  and  is  felt  warming  and  illumining  all  the 
utterances  of  the  lips.  The  explanation  of  the  marvel- 
ous pulpit  power  of  certain  men  of  very  modest  talents 
is  in  one  word — consecration. 

Bring  your  heart  and  brain  and  tongue,  each 
time  you  prepare  to  preach,  and  each  time  you  ascend 
the  pulpit  to  God's  altar,  and  invoke  the  hand  of  fire 
to  be  outreached  to  take  them  and  hold  them  while 
5'ou  proclaim  the  message  of  Him  whose  you  are  and 
whom  you  serve.  The  living  force  of  a  self -forgetful, 
sacrificial  soul,  pressing,  urging  itself  upon  other  souls 
for  their  impregnation  with  the  truth  and  their  trans- 
figuration from  the  dark  and  sordid  life  of  the  flesh  in- 
to the  true  life  for  which  Christ  made  and  redeemed 
them,  is  indeed  a  spectacle  for  angels  and  men.  And 
this  was  Paul's  conception  of  preaching  when  he  said  : 
"For  tho'  ye  have  ten  thousand  instructors  in  Christ 
Jesus,  I  have  begotten  yow  through  the  Gospel."  (i 
Cor.  iv  :  15.) 

This  predominance  of  the  personal  factor  marked 
the  apostolic  age  of  victory  over  the  nations.  The 
Holy  Light  was  in  them,  and  Christ  had  said  :  "L,et 
your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your 
good  works  and  glorify  3'our  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  They  shone  as  lights  in  the  world.  "They 
brought  to  bear  upon  that  corrupt  age  not  only  the 


THE  PERSONAL  FACTOR  IN  PREACHING.    45 

searchlight  of  absolute  truth,  but  the  influence  of  clean 
hearts  and  lives  ;  upon  an  age  of  glittering  shams  they 
brought  to  bear  the  penetrating  power  of  a  character 
and  life  vital  and  vigorous  with  eternal  realities  ;  upon 
the  darkening  and  dying  faiths  of  their  day  they 
flashed  the  energies  of  a  triumphant  Faith,  both  in 
God  and  human  redemption,  and  they  created  a  new 
social  conscience  and  wrought  marvelous  transforma- 
tions in  that  first  century,  not  by  exploiting  a  new  social- 
ism, nor  by  the  subtleties  of  theology,  nor  by  the  fasci- 
nations of  a  gorgeous  ceremonial,  but  by  the  witness 
of  lives  beautiful  with  philanthropy,  sublime  with 
self-sacrifice,  commanding  with  the  courage  of  convic- 
tion and  inspiring  with  enthusiasm  for  humanity." 
And  there  are  men  not  a  few  in  our  day,  who  are  the 
worthy  successors  of  these  apostolic  preachers ;  they 
are  in  the  line  of  the  true  and  only  '  'Apostolic  Succes- 
sion." 

The  personal  factor  might  be  said  to  comprehend 
almost  all  others.  As  the  recovery  and  rebuilding  of 
men  upon  a  Christly  model  are  the  preacher's  great 
business,  the  structure  of  his  own  character  and  the 
style  and  tone  of  his  own  life  must  play  a  conspicuous 
part.  The  chief  thing,  indeed,  that  a  man  contributes 
to  his  age  is  his  tone.  The  '  'dignity  of  his  profession" 
can  avail  him  little  if  his  personal  quality  is  effeminate 
or  false  ;  the  grandeur  of  the  truth  he  represents  can- 
not conceal  a  narrow  or  timorous  soul,  even  though  a 
man  swagger  in  the  pulpit  like  a  Bombastes  Furioso.  A 
character  that,  mountain-like,  swells  from  deep,  broad, 
interior  foundations,  rock-anchored  in  the  immutable 


46  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

verities  of  God,  and  rising  toward  heaven  in  spirit- 
uality, while  spreading  out  in  genial  humanities  toward 
the  whole  world ;  or,  to  change  the  figure,  a  manhood 
that  finds  its  springs,  like  the  Mississippi,  among 
heaven-lit  peaks,  and  flows  down,  gathering  many  a 
rivulet  and  stream,  and,  deepening,  broadening,  flows 
iviajestically  to  the  ocean  of  Eternity,  making  every- 
thing live  where  it  goeth — such  a  personality  will  prove 
a  psychic  force  in  preaching. 

Such  a  personality  is  to  be  developed.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  compilation  of  all  that  he  has 
learned  in  college  and  divinitj^-school  cannot  construct 
that  type  of  the  effective  speaker  which  Aristotle 
(Rhet.  lib.  2,  cap.  i)  indicates  as  embracing  "man- 
liness, kindliness  and  wisdom,"  any  more  than  a 
mechanical  arrangement  of  a  child's  block  alphabet 
can  evolve  a  poem.  Nor  can  a  man  dream  himself 
into  such  a  breadth  and  independence  and  geniality  of 
character  as  he  ma}'  covet ;  he  must  hammer  and 
forge  himself  into  it  through  the  fires  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  study  of  such  men  as  a  St.  Paul,  a 
St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  a  Chalmers,  a  Guthrie,  a  Rob- 
ertson, a  Kingsley,  a  Gordon,  a  Phillips  Brooks,  and 
other  typical  men,  and,  above  all,  by  a  perpetual  com- 
munion with  the  ideal  type  of  manhood — the  Christ, 
who,  "holiest  among  the  might}' and  mightiest  among 
the  holy,  lifted  the  gates  of  empires  from  their  hinges 
and  turned  into  new  channels  the  course  of  the  ages. ' ' 


Commanding  the  Attention 


CHAPTER  IV 


Commanding  the  Attention 


HE  who  possesses  the  art  of  awakening  and  hold- 
ing the  attention  is  a  "Master  of  Assemblies." 
Psychology  has  concerned  itself  largely  with 
the  results  of  attention — only  of  late  have  its  laws  and 
mechanism  been  carefully  studied.  As  a  factor  in  pul- 
pit work,  its  importance,  from  a  psychological  point  of 
view,  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  The  attention 
may  be  said  to  underlie  all  other  mental  operations,  so 
that  its  genesis  and  characteristics  and  phenomena  are 
an  essential  part  of  the  preacher's  study. 

An  adequate  definition  of  attention  would  involve 
the  quotation  of  a  number  of  authorities — a  '  'composite 
photograph"  which,  even  if  practical,  would  be  con- 
fusing ;  but  every  one  of  my  readers  sufficiently 
understands  what  the  term  means.  It  is  the  bringing 
of  the  consciousness  to  a  fociis  in  some  special  direction. 
It  embraces  all  degrees,  from  the  momentary  and 
languid  thought  given  to  a  passing  remark,  to  the 
state  of  complete  absorption  known  as  "ecstasy."  It 
is  subject  to  every  degree  of  intensity  and  duration. 
Whether  considered  objectively,  as  directed  to  external 
tilings,  or  subjectively,  as  directed  to  internal  events, 
it  is  required  to  convert  sensation  into  that  grasp  of 
particulars   which   constitutes   perception.      Without 

47 


48  PSYCHIC  powp:r  in  prkaching. 

attention  we  have  meaningless  and  inconsequent 
revery  instead  of  coherent  and  productive  thought ; 
nor  can  we  conceive  of  any  act  as  being  strictly  vol- 
untary or  intelligent  without  its  direction.  Hence  the 
Psychology  of  the  Attention  is  a  study  of  the  highest 
importance  to  those  who  would  by  persuasive  speech 
J ;'ad  men  to  action.  It  should  be  studied  as  a  science. 
As  a  feature  in  the  course  of  Homiletics  in  our 
divinity  schools  it  has  been  given  a  scant  and  inci- 
dental regard  ;  it  should  have  a  more  full  and  specific 
treatment.  A  candidate  for  ordination  is  carefully 
examined  as  to  his  orthodoxy,  but  if  he  were  asked  to 
define  attention  and  state  how  he  could  go  about 
awakening  and  holding  the  attention  of  a  congrega- 
tion, he  would  probably  be  quite  nonplussed,  or  at 
least  give  crude  and  unscientific  answers.  And  yet 
this  is  a  primary  and  essential  factor  in  pulpit  address. 
To  preach  without  awakening  and  holding  the  atten- 
tion is  but  a  waste  of  energy  and  a  squandering  of 
thought. 

The  attention  is  the  "coupling"  by  which  the 
locomotive  draws  the  train;  if  there  is  a  "missing 
link"  there,  the  engine,  though  well  built  and  well 
driven,  spins  aw^ay  in  rattling  isolation,  leaving  the 
passengers  in  provoking  immobility.  To  awaken  and 
retain  the  attention  is,  therefore,  imperative  to  suc- 
cessful preaching.  There  are  sensational  and  empir- 
ical ways  of  doing  this,  and  also  others  that  are  in 
harmony  with  the  constitution  of  the  mind. 

Attention  has  been  defined  as  "the  concentration 
of  consciousness,  or  the  direction  of  mental  energy 


COMMANDING  THE   ATTENTION.  49 

upon  a  definite  object  or  objects."  Its  mode  of  opera- 
tion and  the  effects  produced  by  it  may  be  compared 
with  the  concentration  of  visual  activity  upon  some 
definite  part  of  the  field  of  vision,  and  the  clearer  per- 
ception of  that  limited  portion  which  is  thus  obtained. 

The  preacher's  work  is  to  make  men  first  see 
things,  then  feel  them,  then  act  upon  them.  If  the 
first  result  is  not  gained,  the  others,  of  course,  fail ; 
often  if  the  first  is  obtained  the  other  two  go  along 
with  it.  The  Arabian  proverb,  "He  is  the  best  orator 
who  can  change  men's  ears  into  eyes,"  has  application 
here. 

There  are  two  qualities  of  attention — intensity  and 
duration — which  are  characteristic  ;  their  combination 
at  the  same  moment  raises  it  to  its  highest  condition. 
We  must  distinguish  between  spontaneous  and  voluntary 
attention.  The  former  is  natural  and  primitive  ;  the 
latter  is  mechanical,  artificial,  the  result  of  education. 
The  former  is  the  basis  of  the  latter  ;  and  both  are  to 
be  found  in  every  degree  of  development,  from  the 
feeblest  to  the  most  intense.  A  part  of  the  preacher's 
science  is  to  be  able  to  discern  the  degree  of  voluntary 
attention  in  his  congregation — when  it  begins,  when  it 
increases,  when  it  declines  and  when  it  ends.  This  is 
not  easy,  but  a  degree  of  facility  and  proficiency  may 
be  gained  by  study  and  observation.  He  will  fail  in 
carrying  his  hearers  with  him  if  he  has  not  this  tart, 
that  is,  if  he  is  not  in  conscious  and  intelligent  toicch 
with  them  ;  he  must  throw  out  his  mental  tentacles 
(which  should  be  electrical),  or,  better,  he  should  sink 
from  the  pulpit  to  the  pews  his  sympathetic  grappling- 


50  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

hooks  and  " get  hold''  of  the  people,  or  he  might  as 
well  stop  before  he  begins. 

He  must  reckon  with  the  actual  human  material 
with  which  he  has  to  deal.  He  stands  before  a  mass 
of  faces  and  forms  clothing  an  infinite  variety  of  souls 
— conscious,  egotistic  factors — each  an  independent 
organism,  an  animate  cosmos,  in  which  involuntary 
attention  and  sensation  are  found  largely  foreign  to  his 
own.  Could  he  study,  as  in  a  vitascope,  the  psychic 
condition  and  movements  of  the  average  auditor,  he 
would  see  a  constant  coming  and  going  of  thoughts, 
images,  events,  incidents,  and  emotions,  which  follow 
each  other  in  no  rational  order,  but  mingle  with  or 
expel  one  another  according  to  some  law  of  association 
which  psychologists  as  yet  only  partially  comprehend. 
It  may  be,  in  a  degree,  compared  to  a  kaleidoscopic 
effect — forming,  unforming,  reforming  various  combi- 
nations, only  with  different  elements.  His  business  is 
to  clear  the  field  of  these  native  vagrants  by  the 
orderly  invasion  of  his  marshaled  and  moving  ideas, 
images  and  arguments. 

He  cannot  mould  the  individual  or  the  mass  as  if 
it  were  plastic  clay,  or  even  in  the  fires  of  his  fervor. 
Men  are  sensitive,  volatile,  evasive  ;  manj^  of  them 
ignorant  of  and  indifferent  to  the  things  they  most 
need  to  be  persuaded  of.  To  many  the  message  is  "a 
thrice-told  tale, "  or  it  is  not  congenial  to  their  mood 
or  prejudices.  Not  a  few,  as  soon  as  the  text  is 
announced,  lock  their  doors  and  close  the  blinds  from 
an  unconscious  or  active  antagonism  to  what  the}' 
think  is  coming.     In  some  there  is  a  chronic  mental 


COMMANDING   THE    ATTENTION.  5 1 

indolence  or  vagrancy  of  thought,  some  are  dull  and 
slow-witted  and  some  cold  and  unemotional.  He  is  to 
adapt  his  methods  to  reach  each  and  all. 

The  capacity  and  readiness  of  attention  are  largely 
a  matter  of  education  and  habit.  With  people  trained 
to  think  consecutively,  to  observe  objects  and  events, 
to  compare,  contrast  and  draw  conclusions,  it  is  at  its 
best. 

But  the  exercise  of  the  attention  is  not  always  pro- 
portionate to  its  capacity.  The  cultured  are  often  so 
surfeited,  so  blase,  so  self-complacent  or  so  fatigued 
with  more  exciting  or  pleasurable  mental  occupation 
that  they  yield  only  a  languid  attention  to  the 
preacher's  voice.  Men  and  women  of  society  are  so 
fagged  with  the  dissipations  of  the  week  that  it  is 
hard  to  arouse  in  them  a  quick  interest  in  the  message 
of  the  Sabbath,  while  with  many  the  browsing  of  the 
interminable  Sunday  newspaper  has  tired  their  brain 
to  begin  with.  On  the  other  hand,  men  and  women 
whose  daily  routine  of  humble  toil  presents  little  to 
waken  or  satisfy  the  mind  often  make  excellent 
listeners  if  the  theme  and  its  treatment  be  attractive 
to  them.  To  awaken  attention,  we  must  concentrate 
and  hold  the  hearer's  mind  to  a  given  idea,  or  train  of 
ideas,  to  the  exclusion  of  those  others,  many  and  va- 
grant, which  normally  or  accidentally  fill  his  horizon. 
It  means  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  and  a  re- 
ciprocal effort  on  the  part  of  the  hearer.  His  atten- 
tion becomes  the  voluntary  subjection  of  his  entire 
mental  and  phj-sical  activity  to  his  own  use  in  har- 
mony with  that  of  the  speaker.      It  involves  a  iinity  of 


52  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

consciousness ;  the  whole  being  converges  toward  the 
object  presented,  and  is  held  in  captivity — ears,  eyes 
and  limbs,  and  almost  the  very  breath  are  under  the 
same  spell. 

The  speaker  has  not  won  the  attention  when  there 
is  merely  a  decorous  quietness,  an  uplifted  face  and 
even  a  "  hearing  ear  "  ;  for  just  as  a  man  may  read  a 
page  of  a  book  and  not  derive  the  slightest  impression 
from  it,  because  his  thoughts  are  elsewhere,  so  in 
listening  to  a  discourse.  ' '  People  habituate  them- 
selves," as  Bishop  Butler  says,  "  to  let  things  pass 
through  their  minds,  rather  than  to  think  on  them. 
The  great  number  of  books  and  papers  of  amusement 
have  in  part  occasioned,  and  most  perfectly  fall  in 
with  this  idle  way  of  reading  and  considering  things. 
Review  and  attention,  and  even  forming  a  judgment, 
becomes  a  fatigue." 

If  this  was  true  when  written  in  1729,  how  much 
more  is  it  applicable  to  the  mental  habits  at  this  begin- 
ning of  the  twentieth  centur}*,  dissipated  and  feverish 
through  the  daily  and  desultory  brovvsing  over  the  in- 
terminable field  of  a  cheap  and  often  sensational  press. 
He  who  would  command  attention  from  the  pulpit 
must  not  underestimate  the  difficulty  of  his  task. 

What,  then,  is  the  process  by  which  voluntary 
attention  is  gained  ?  Prof.  Ribot  *  says:  ' '  It  may  be  re- 
duced to  the  following  single  formula:  To  render  attrac- 
tive by  artifice  zvhat  is  not  so  by  natuj-e,  to  give  an 
artificial  interest  to  things  that  have  not  a  natural  in- 
terest.    I  use   the  word     '  interest '    in  the  ordinary 


*  Psychologic  de  rAttention,  Chap.  2. 


COMMANDING   THH   ATTENTION.  53 

sense  as  equivalent  to  the  paraphrase — anything  that 
keeps  the  mind  on  the  alert.  But  the  mind  is  only  kept 
on  the  alert  by  the  agreeable,  the  disagreeable  or 
mixed  action  of  objects  upon  it,  that  is  by  emotional 
states,  with  this  difference,  however,  that  here  the 
feelings  that  sustain  attention  are  acquired,  super- 
added,not  spontaneous,  as  in  primitive  manifestations." 
"The  whole  question,"  says  he,  "  is  reduced  to  the 
finding  of  effective  motives  ;  if  the  latter  be  wanting, 
voluntary  attention  does  not  appear. ' ' 

To  arouse  attention  we  must  awaken  pleasure, 
pain  or  surprise.  The  themes  the  preacher  deals  with 
are  intrinsically  adapted  to  this  end,  more,  indeed, 
than  any  others,  but  it  is  not  what  things  are,  but 
what  they  appear  to  be,  that  awakens  interest,  and 
the  eyes  of  the  human  understanding  are  naturally 
darkened  by  sin  so  that  the  ' '  things  that  accompany 
salvation  "  do  not  appear  in  their  true  colors  and  pro- 
portions, but  obscured  and  distorted.  Through  Satanic 
devices  men  are  led  to  think  evil  good  and  good  evil,  and 
through  the  glamour  and  fascination  of  things  purely 
secular,  the  supreme  greatness  and  glory  of  things 
spiritual  are  eclipsed,  and  even  through  passion  or  fear 
they  become  repulsive.  Human  nature  has  not 
ceased  to  turn  from  the  sublime  teachings  of  Christ 
with  the  cry  of  impatience  or  contempt.  "  This  is  a 
hard  saying  ;  who  can  hear  it  ?  "  Christ  is  still  to  the 
multitudes  "  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground  without  form 
or  comeliness,  and  there  is  no  beauty  that  they  should 
desire  him."  Now,  just  as  a  man  incapable  of  pleas- 
ure or  pain  would  be  incapable  of  attention,  so,  unless 


54  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

we  can  awaken  surprise,  pleasure  or  pain  by  specific 
psychological  methods,  we  fail  of  gaining  attention. 
Voluntary  attention  must  be  excited  by  novelty  ad- 
dressed to  the  senses  and  through  them  to  the  intellect 
and  the  emotions,  and  thus  calling  into  action  the 
will  which,  with  eflFort,  purposely  or  unconsciously, 
bends  the  whole  man  to  that  which  is  thus  presented. 
This  impulsion  of  the  mind  in  attention  is  not  steady 
like  the  pressure  of  the  trolley  arm  upon  the  wire,  it 
is,  rather,  intermittent  like  the  oscillation  of  a  pendu- 
lum. Continued  tension  speedily  exhausts  the  power 
of  listening.  To  preserve  its  freshness  and  elasticity 
there  must  be  momentary  rests  for  the  mind  to 
unbend  ;  it  will  return  enlivened.  Voluntary  atten- 
tion, in  its  durable  form,  is  really  a  difficult  state  to 
maintain.  The  speaker  should  remember  that.  There 
is  always  an  effort  and  a  feeling  of  effort.  When 
this  is  reduced — as  the  skilful  speaker  knows  how — 
to  its  lowest  point,  voluntary  attention  approximates 
to  the  spontaneous,  and  so  can  be  held  to  its  work  for 
a  longer  time.  We  only  do  that  easily  which  we  do 
unconsciously. 

Sometimes  attention  is  grafted  upon  a  purely 
selfish  feeling — as  the  hope  of  reward  or  fear  of  punish- 
ment, but  there  must  always  be  an  emotion  prompting 
to  physical  effort,  an  action  of  the  will  both  summon- 
i^ig  the  mind  and  inhibiting  distraction.  As  attention 
;  Iways  depends  on  emotional  states,  we  must  contin- 
ually keep  this  in  mind.  In  man's  plij'sical  organiza- 
tion the  states  designated  as  need,  appetite,  inelination, 
desire^  constitute  the  true  basis  of  emotional  life.     As 


COMMANDING    THE    ATTKNTlON.  55 

these  have  become  more  or  less  mental  habits,  atten- 
tion does  not  depend  wholly  upon  present  causes,  but 
upon  an  accumulation  of  primary  causes.  (Ribot.) 
Habitual  motives  thus  have  acquired  the  force  of 
natural  motives.  The  work  of  the  preacher  is  also 
aided  by  what  psychologists  call  ' '  anticipative  atten- 
tion "  or  pre-attention.  Happy  the  preacher  to 
whose  well-known  brightness  and  life  the  expectant 
people  turn,  as  house-plants  to  a  sunny  window.  A 
man  of  established  reputation  for  brilliancy,  wit  or 
even  eccentricity  will  be  met,  on  confronting  his  audi- 
ence, with  this  pre-attention,  and  is  likely  to  hold  it, 
for  obvious  reasons.  Without  these  exceptional  gifts, 
a  preacher  may  secure  a  measure  of  the  same  advan- 
tage by  winning  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his 
people  and  the  community  by  his  constant,  wise  and 
sympathetic  intercourse  with  them.  Force  of  char- 
acter, moral  strength  and  geniality  combined,  personal 
magnetism  and  even  a  reputation  for  pith  and  brevity 
will  secure  this  anticipative  attention. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said,  attractiveness  is  the 
sceptre  of  attention.  It  may  reside  in  personality,  in 
subject,  in  delivery,  or  in  all  three.  The  subject,  of 
course,  is  of  supreme  importance.  If  it  does  not  make 
a  natural  appeal  to  men's  hunger  and  thirst,  to  their 
hearts  and  homes,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  secure 
attention,  even  though  the  preacher's  personality  and 
elocution  be  attractive  in  a  high  degree.  Bigness  is  a 
prominent  law  of  attention ;  it  is  alwaj^s  attractive 
even  when  not  pleasing.  Advertisers  understand 
this,  and  all  business  is  conducted  on  that  principle. 


56  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN    PREACHING. 

Pettiness  is  the  bane  of  our  pulpits.  A  fraction  of  a 
verse,  with  a  fragment  of  pretty  poetical  sentiment 
drawn  from  it,  as  a  silken  thread  is  spun  from  a  co- 
coon, satisfies  the  preacher,  and  the  drowsy  people 
permit  it.  The  men  who  command  attention  deal 
with  the  great,  vital  questions  which  affect  the  men 
and  women  of  to-day  for  weal  or  woe,  and  they  treat 
those  questions,  not  in  an  empirical,  narrow  or 
abstruse,  but  in  a  concrete  and  practical  way,  yet 
always  with  the  magnifying  and  interpreting  light  of 
gospel  teaching  and  of  eternal  issues.  Like  God,  they 
see  everything  in  the  present,  yet  with  an  infinite 
perspective  and  in  the  broad  search-light  of  the 
Judgment  Throne.  The  preacher  must  be  at  once 
prophet  and  herald.  "Never  forget,"  said  Phillips 
Brooks  to  the  Yale  theological  students,  ' '  that  you 
are  above  all  things  else  heralds."  He  is  to  declare 
"the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand" — "the  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you."  He  must  treat  the 
"  powers  of  the  world  to  come  "  as  projecting  them- 
selves into  this  world,  right  among  the  marts  and 
factories  and  politics  and  schools  and  amusements  and 
homes  of  his  own  neighborhood. 

People  are  not  greatly  interested  by  things  in  the 
remote  future  ;  "  the  life  that  now  is  "  absorbs  them, 
but  they  can  be  made  to  see  its  greatness.  They  are 
not  attracted  by  pictures  of  their  dying  hour,  but  are 
eager  to  know  how  to  live  happily  and  successfully. 
They  are  attracted  by  crystallized  demonstrations — 
the  abstract  and  metaphysical  bore  them.  It  grates 
upon  men  to  be  asked  to  assist  in  the  slaughter  of  some 


COMMANDING   THE   ATTENTION.  57 

comatose  heresy  when  they  are  hungering  for  the 
solution  of  the  problems  of  their  daily  life.  They  look 
listlessly  upon  the  rearing  and  buttressing  of  a  totter- 
ing theological  dogma,  but  they  prick  up  their  ears  at 
a  trumpet-call  to  nobler  living  with  strong  hands  held 
out  to  help  them. 

Another  law  of  attention  is  brightiiess  and  inte^isity.' 
The  intensity  of  a  sensation  influences  the  amount  of 
attention  given  to  it.  Sermons  should  be  constella- 
tions— they  are  too  often  like  the  milky-way.  An- 
other law  is  the  manifest  sincerity  of  the  speaker  and 
the  heart-force  that  touches  the  most  indifferent.  You 
sometimes  hear  men  of  whom  you  are  convinced  that 
they  do  not  believe,  or  at  least  do  not  realize,  a  word 
they  are  saying.  David  Hume,  when  charged  with 
inconsistency  in  going  frequently  to  hear  Rowland 
Hill,  said,  *'  I  like  to  hear  sometimes  a  man  who  be- 
lieves what  he  saj^s. ' '  The  accent  of  conviction  and 
the  blood-streak  of  experience  have  a  fascmation  that 
is  wanting  in  the  most  decorative  theories.  People 
wake  up  when  they  not  only  hear  of  the  historical 
Christ,  living  in  Judea  twenty  centuries  ago,  but  see 
the /mVz^  Christ  shining  through  the  minister's  face 
and  sermon  as  through  a  lattice,  and  scent  the  per- 
fume of  the  Rose  and  the  L,ily  fresh  from  the  gardens 
of  Heaven. 

Another  rule  is,  create  expectatio7i  and  siirprise. 
Charles  Spurgeon  used  to  say,  ' '  Take  the  people  in  a 
way  they  did  not  expect,  let  your  thunderbolt  drop 
out  of  a  clear  sky,  cultivate  what  Father  Taylor  (the 
New  York  preacher  to  sailors)  called    '  the  surprise 


58  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

power,'  avoid  long  introductions,  leap  into  your  sub- 
ject, let  your  first  sentences  have  something  striking 
in  them,  vary  your  speed,  dash  like  the  lightning, 
move  calmly  like  the  flowing  river,  use  the  bass  notes, 
the  clarion  tones,  be  conversational,  be  dramatic,  have 
variety — that  is  what  human  nature  craves. ' ' 

Command  of  the  attention  will  be  affected  by  the 
structure  of  the  sermo7i.  As  I  shall  treat  of  that  under 
the  "Psychology  of  Style"  in  the  next  chapter,  I 
will  confine  myself  here  to  one  or  two  general  princi- 
ples :  First — order  and  unity.  Some  one  has  said  that 
sermons  might  be  divided  into  two  classes — "verte- 
brate and  molluscous. ' '  With  the  latter  there  seems 
to  be  no  framework  on  which  it  is  built,  and  it  might 
as  well  be  delivered  from  the  middle  to  both  ends. 
Sermons  of  the  molluscous  kind  discourage  the  hearer 
before  they  have  been  rambling  long.  It  is  impossible 
to  keep  up  the  attention.  To  concentrate  thought  the 
discourse  must  be  vertebrate.  We  do  not  want  to  see 
the  anatomy,  but  we  want  to  know  that  it  is  there. 
Phillips  Brooks  says,  "  The  true  way  to  get  rid  of  the 
bonyness  of  your  sermon  is  not  by  leaving  out  the 
skeleton,  but  by  clothing  it  with  flesh.  Give  your 
sermon  an  orderly,  constant  progress,  and  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  let  your  hearers  see  it  distinctly,  for  it  will  help 
them,  first,  to  understand,  and  then  to  remember  what 
you  say." 

While  George  Herbert  in  the  Country  Parson 
warns  us  against  ' '  crumbling  up  a  text  into  small 
parts,  by  which  a  passage  ceases  to  be  Scripture  and 
becomes  a  dictionary,"   I  am  convinced  that  a  clear 


COMMANDING   THK    ATTENTION.  59 

statement,  in  the  exordium,  of  the  main  points  of 
which  the  preacher  means  to  treat,  is  adapted  to  keep 
up  a  livelier  interest  than  the  modern  practice,  which 
might  be  called  the  evolutionary  style. 

A  lively  curiositj'  may  be  excited  when  a  presti- 
digitator draws  out  of  his  mouth  an  indefinite  length 
of  ribbon,  and  the  attention  is  kept  up  by  its  seeming 
endlessness,  but  exactly  the  opposite  effect  is  produced 
by  the  flow  of  discourse  in  which  there  are  no  resting 
places  and  no  breathing  spots.  The  divisions  should, 
however,  be  few  in  number  and  show  unity  and  prog- 
ress. By  these  milestones  the  hearer  will  know  that 
you  are  hastening  toward  a  goal,  "  Sernper  ad eventum 
festinat. ' '  The  attention  is  fagged  by  detail  and  dis- 
cursive matter.  Cecil  used  to  say,  "  Above  all  things, 
disencumber  a  sermon.' ' 

Now  this  we  may  do  by  a  clear  plan  before 
we  begin — what  have  we  to  say  and  what  limits  will 
we  fix  to  our  subject?  We  must  not  commence  our 
voyage  till  we  have  a  distinct  course  on  the  chart  and 
a  near  and  definite  port  in  view,  and  the  hearers  should 
expect  that. 

' '  Firstly  ' '  and  ' '  finally  ' '  should  be  joined  by  suc- 
cessive links,  and  they  should  be  few.  A  sermon  should 
be  like  the  grape-vines  of  California,  which  are  not. 
grown  for  ornament,  but  for  fruit.  The  branches  and 
foliage  are  "  cut  back  "  close  to  the  stem,  which  itself 
does  not  rise  above  3'our  head,  instead  of  wandering 
over  a  high  trellis ;  and  so  j-ou  have  the  big,  purple 
bunches  of  fruit  which  one  can  gather   right  at  hand. 

Most  men  put  too  many  distinct  tlioughts  into  a 


6o  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN    PRKACHING. 

sermon  and  go  too  inucli  into  detail.  They  are  afraid 
of  repeating  the  same  thought  even  in  a  different  dress, 
or  of  appearing  too  limited  in  their  range,  or  too  simple 
and  elementary.  We  must  remember  that  we  are 
not  addressing  an  audience  of  savants,  but  men,  women 
and  youths,  who,  outside  their  own  profession,  trade 
or  home  duties  have  very  vague  and  inadequate  ideas 
of  the  subjects  that  to  us  are  familiar  and  of  which  we 
can  take  in  a  wide  horizon  at  a  glance.  The  charm  of 
some  of  the  greatest  preachers,  like  Chalmers,  was  in 
clinging  to  a  few  points  and  holding  up  new  phases  of 
them  till  the  people  saw  them  clearly. 

Indeed,  an  eminent  preacher  when  asked  the  secret 
of  effective  speech  said ,  "  Repetition — repetition — repe- 
tition." A  Supreme  Court  Judge  said  to  Mr.  Finney 
(Autobiog.  p.  85),  "  Ministers  do  not  show  good  sense 
in  addressing  the  people.  They  are  afraid  of  repeti- 
tion. Now  if  lawyers  should  take  such  a  course  they 
would  ruin  themselves  and  their  cause. ' '  "When  I  was 
at  the  bar,"  he  added,  "  I  learned  that  unless  I  did  so 
— illustrated  and  repeated  and  turned  the  main  points 
over — the  main  points  of  law  and  evidence — I  should 
lose  my  case."  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  speaking  of 
an  eminent  British  pleader,  said,  '*  When  Scarlett  ad- 
dresses a  jury  there  are  thirteen  jurymen."  The 
secret  of  winning  in  such  a  case  the  ear  of  a  jury  by 
implicating  your  thought,  your  predilections,  your 
questionings  with  theirs  is  equally  available  as  an  ele- 
ment of  pulpit  power. 

The  preacher  should  not  ignore  thepkj/szcal  basis 
and  conditions  of  attention.     The  activity  of  the  brain, 


COMMANDING   THR   ATTENTION.  6l 

tht  qiiJckening  and  contiiunty  of  its  physical  move- 
mo/!,  s  are  conditioned  by  the  activity  of  its  circulation. 
Prof^Sfvor  Ribot  obsen^es  that  the  blood  is  to  the  gray 
matter  of  the  convolutions  what  oxygen  is  to  the 
burnJug'  fuel:  it  is  at  once  an  imperative  need  and  a 
natural  siimulus.  ' '  The  consciousness, ' '  he  says,  ' '  -uill 
fail  to  respond  to  anj'  impression,  if  the  circulation  be 
impeded  or  lowered  below  a  certain  amount."  It  fol- 
lows that  as  physical  conditions  enter  largely  into  a 
man's  actual  power  to  think  consecutively  and  with 
concet.traticn  and  interest,  they  should  be  studied. 
Drows'ness,  vngrancj^  of  mind,  dullness  of  perception, 
mental  languor  and  fatigue  are,  thus,  the  inevitable 
results  and  concomitants  of  an  imperfect  circulation. 
The  presence  of  carbonic  gas  in  an  ill-ventilated  audi- 
torium and  a  temperature  too  cold  or  too  warm  are  the 
enemies  of  attention.  Demosthenes  or  Paul  could  not 
interest  a  partially  asphyxiated  or  half- frozen  audience. 
And  then  there  are  distractions  from  uncomfortable 
seats,  garish  decorations,  giggling  choirs,  fretful  chil- 
dren and  ^?^/r/ attires',  all  helping  to  make  the  preacher's 
task  embarrassing. 

Since  attention  y,  so  shy,  capricious  and  easily 
distracted,  the  preacher  must  catch  it  when  it  is  most 
free  from  burden.  Sometimes  the  audience  is  tired 
before  the  sermon  begins.  Where  intelligence,  unctioi; 
and  brevity  control  the  order  of  service  they  stimulate 
and  lead  up  to  the  sermon,  but  they  are  often  unduly 
elaborated.  By  the  time  the  organist  has  achieved  his 
"prelude,"  the  chorister  finished  his  programme,  the 
hymns  read  and  sung,  thi  Scriptures  read  and  expound- 


62  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

ed,  the  "long  prayer"  completed,  a  volume  of  notices 
read  with  comments,  the  attention  of  the  people  has 
been  occupied  nearly  an  hour.  If  the  worship  that 
precedes  the  sermon  be  full  of  life,  unity  and  original- 
ity of  thought  and  fervor  of  feeling,  it  should  be  an 
uplifting  preparation  of  the  mind  and  heart  for  the 
sermon  that  follows,  and  this  the  wise  preacher  will 
secure. 

Attention  and  quickeyied  emotion  are  reciprocal. 
The  preacher  has  the  whole  diapason  of  the  motives  on 
which  to  play — as  a  skilful  organist,  he  must  under- 
stand his  keys,  stops  and  combinations.  His  congrega- 
tion includes  every  variety  of  life,  every  degree  of 
sensibility  to  impression.  His  ability  to  gain  the  at- 
tention of  the  larger  number  will  rest  on  his  confining 
his  art  to  the  simple  and  universal  feelings  in  which 
all  share  alike.  Such  are  curiosit}^  hope  of  gain  or 
pleasure,  fear  of  loss  or  pain,  love  of  freedom,  of  rest, 
of  companionship,  life  in  all  its  pleasurable  forms — in 
other  words,  the  egoistic  sentiments.  Rising  higher, 
though  reaching  a  more  limited  number,  we  may  ap- 
peal to  the  sentiments  of  justice,  benevolence,  sympathy, 
social  responsibility,  patriotism,  mercy,  enthusiasm 
for  humanity — in  other  words,  the  altruistic  sentiments. 
Rising  still  higher,  and  reaching  a  still  smaller  number, 
we  have  the  moral  emotions — love  of  the  good,  the 
beautiful,  the  true;  the  sentiment  of  honor,  nobility, 
magnanimity,  of  the  special  obligations  and  privi- 
leges of  the  prosperous  and  the  strong.  Pleasure  in  the 
harmony  of  things,  yearnings  for  an  ideal  state,  all 
these  in  all  their  combinations  form  the  wide  range  of 


COMMANDING   THE   ATTENTION.  63 

motives  and  emotions  which  will  on  the  one  hand  pro- 
duce attention,  and  on  the  other  receive  development 
and  vigor  through  the  result  of  attention. 

We  can  detect  the  degree  of  attention  by  noticing 
the  stillness  or  restlessness  of  the  congregation,  for  its 
direct  effect  is  a  concentration  of  physical  movements. 
A  state  of  immobility  prevails.  There  is  an  adapta- 
tion of  eyes,  ears  and  muscles,  a  tendency  toward  con- 
centration of  consciousness  and  concentration  of  move- 
ments. As  Nature  enlivens  our  attention  by  her  in- 
p.nite  variety,  so  the  attention  is  held  by  frequent  transi- 
tions from  the  didactic  to  the  pictorial,  from  affirma- 
tion to  interrogation,  from  description  to  dialogue, 
now  a  quotation  and  now  an  anecdote,  now  a  verse  of 
poetry  and  now  a  flash  of  humor,  sometimes  a  deliber- 
ate pause,  especially  after  a  passionate  passage,  and  a 
new  commencement  in  a  different  key,  the  quiet  con- 
versational manner  following  fiery  declamation.  All 
these  variations  tend  in  the  same  direction  of  relieving 
and,  therefore,  freshening  the  attention.  Attention 
cannot  be  gained  by  hammering  the  Bible,  nor  scream- 
ing at  the  people.  Often  a  whisper  or  an  emphatic 
pause  is  very  effective.  We  should  remember  also  the 
ps5xhic  power  of  the  eye  in  this  connection.  A  silent, 
searching  and  penetrating  look  wakens  the  attention 
when  words  have  failed.  George  Herbert  says,  * '  The 
Country  Parson,  when  he  preacheth,  procures  attention 
by  all  possible  art,  both  by  earnestness  of  speech  and 
by  a  diligent  and  busy  cast  of  the  eye  among  the 
auditors,  with  lettmg  them  know  that  he  observes  who 
marks  and  who  not,  and  with  particularizing  now  to 


64  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHINC;. 

the  younger  sort,  now  to  the  elder,  now  to  the  rich, 
now  to  the  poor,  this  is  for  you,  and  this  is  for  you ; 
for  particulars  touch  and  awake  more  than  generals. ' ' 
I  conclude  with  the  remark  that  attention  will 
largely  depend  on  the  good-will  and  love  of  the  hear- 
ers. If  the  preacher  possesses  those  magnetic  qualities 
which  Aristotle  specifies  (Rhet.  lib.  2.  cap.  i),  which 
may  be  rendered,  Manliness,  Kindliness  and  Wisdom, 
he  has  won  half  the  battle  to  begin  with.  If  the  peo- 
ple know  he  is  not  speaking  in  a  perfunctory  way,  nor 
as  a  schoolmaster,  but  as  a  father,  brother,  friend;  and 
especially  if  they  know,  from  experience,  that  he  will 
not  lose  them  in  a  labyrinth  of  speculation,  but  lead 
them  by  a  short,  direct  path  to  living  fountains ;  if  he 
preach  as  one  who  knows  what  he  and  his  sermon  are 
about,  and  has  something  that  has  to  be  said,  and  that 
he  intends  to  be  listened  to,  they  will  listen ;  they  know 
that  he  will  say  plainly,  frankly  and  briefly  what  he 
has  to  say,  and  stop  when  he  has  said  it,  and  before 
they  want  him  to.  That  man  will  have  practically 
solved  the  problem  of  commanding  the  attention. 


The  Psychology  of  Style 


CHAPTER    V 


The  Psychology  of  Style 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  shown  that  tfie 
Attention  is  the  coupling  by  which  the  hearer  is 

drawn  after  the  speaker — the  gearing  by  which  all 
the  machinery  of  his  mind  and  heart  is  kept  in  motion 
by  the  speaker's  power.  Unlike  material  coupling  and 
gearing,  however,  it  is  neither  of  iron  links  nor  leather 
bands,  but  as  fragile  as  a  spider's  web.  We  are  con- 
cerned, then,  to  see  that  no  unnecessary  strain  is  put 
upon  it.  The  attention  is  with  most,  not  only  limited, 
but  capricious  and  impatient ;  easily  distracted,  easily 
wearied.  Hence,  if  we  would  get  our  message  over 
the  hearer's  telephone  before  his  ear  is  removed  from 
the  transmitter,  we  must  study  the  psychology  of  Lan- 
guage as  well  as  of  thought. 

Herbert  Spencer,  in  his  profound  and  analytic 
essay  on  the  Philosophy  of  Style,  says:  "Regarding 
language  as  an  apparatus  of  symbols  for  the  convey- 
ance of  thought,  we  may  say  that,  as  in  a  mechanical 
apparatus,  the  more  simple  and  the  better  arranged  its 
parts,  the  greater  will  be  the  effect  produced.  In 
either  case,  whatever  force  is  absorbed  by  the  machine 
is  deducted  from  the  result.  A  listener  has,  at  each 
moment,  but  a  limited  amount  of  mental  power  avail- 
able.     To  recognize  and  interpret  the  symbols  pre- 

65 


66  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

sented  to  him  requires  part  of  this  power  ;  to  arrange 
and  combine  the  images  suggested  requires  a  further 
part,  and  only  that  part  which  remains  can  be  used 
for  realizing  the  thought  conve5^ed."  Keeping  this 
law  in  view,  it  is  clear  that  simplicity,  lucidity  and 
directness  of  address,  both  in  vocabulary  and  rhetoric, 
ire  of  primary  consequence.  As  in  the  transference  of 
electrical  energy,  it  is  important  to  avoid  waste  in  the 
process,  so  there  is  no  more  important  problem  in  the 
transmission  of  thought  than  how  to  produce  a  maxi- 
inu7)i  of  impression  with  a  rnhiimuni  of  tax  on  the 
attention,  since  whatever  mental  energy  the  hearer 
expends  in  getting  at  the  speaker's  meaning  leaves  so 
much  less  for  grasping  the  value  of  his  thought. 

The  familiar  w^/ of  Talleyrand,  "  I^anguage  is  a 
vehicle  for  concealing  thought,"  derives  all  its  point 
from  the  fact  that  though  words  are  the  windows  of  the 
mind,  they  are  not  absolutely  crystalline,  but  varying 
through  all  degrees  of  transparency  down  to  actual 
opacity.  Hence  within  a  limited  range  Pantomime 
or  Picture  Language  has  a  superiority  over  words. 
Thus,  the  beckoning  or  repelling  hand,  the  pointing 
finger,  the  dilating  ej'^es  and  raised  eyebrows,  or  the 
shrugging  shoulders — each  conveys  thought  with  a 
swift  vividness  that  defies  etymology. 

Coming  to  words, — an  ejaculation,  "  Oh  !  Ah  !  " 
with  their  inflections,  or  a  single  word,  as  ' '  Wretch  ! ' ' 
' '  Horrors  !  "  "  Huzzah  ! ' '  could  not,  in  elaborate 
sentence,  find  paraphrase. 

Seeing,  then,  that  in  language  we  have  an  organ  of 
impression  that  is,  at  best,  an  imperfect  transmitter  of 


THE    rvSYCHOLOCrY    Ol^"   STYI^E.  67 

our  thought  and  emotions,  we  should  seek  to  discover 
the  psychological  lazvs  by  which  attention  may  be 
economized.  According  to  Herbert  Spencer,  "The 
friction  and  inertia  involved  in  the  application  of  rhe- 
torical machiner^^  to  the  mind,  reduced  to  its  lowest 
point,  indicates  the  secret  of  style.  The  choice  and 
arrangement  of  words  and  sentences,  the  right  intro- 
duction of  imagery,  and  all  figures  of  speech,  the  use 
of  quotation,  even  of  omission  and  pause,  are  all  in- 
volved in  the  process." 

In  a  rich  and  mosaic  language  like  ours,  there  is 
wide  scope  for  selection  of  words,  the  law  of  selection 
being  fitness  to  the  subject  discussed  and  the  audience 
addressed.  For  the  work  of  the  preacher  the  simplic- 
ity and  force  of  Saxon-English  has  commended  it  to 
all  experts  in  the  Science  of  Speech.  It  is  terse  and 
transparent,  robust  and  rugged,  picturesque  and  illus- 
trative. It  abounds  in  monosj-llabic  and  dissyllabic 
words,  whose  sound  suggests  their  sense  more  fre- 
quently than  any  other  language.  It  is  near  neigh- 
bor to  primitive  language,  it  is  the  dialect  of  youth 
and  of  the  common  people,  and  what  it  lacks  of  the 
elegance  of  the  French  or  the  grace  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  it  makes  up  in  vigor  and  grip  of  the  attention. 
It  is  even  most  approved  for  ordinary  address  by  the 
cultured,  and  is  a  characteristic  of  the  writers  and 
speakers  who  have  commanded  the  ears  of  men  in 
modern  times.  It  is  pre-eminently  adapted  to  preach- 
ing, which  is  not  a  work  of  art,  but  an  effort  to  con- 
vince and  persuade  through  manifestation  of  the 
truth. 


68  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

If  the  secret  of  effective  style  be  in  the  economy  of 
the  attention,  jwe  shquld  select  words  as  brief  and 
sentences  as  concise  as  clearness  and  perfect  expression^ 
of  the  thought  will  allow.  Hence  words  of  one  and 
two  syllables  are  to  be  largely  used .  Thus :  ' '  Return  to 
thine  abode  "  may  be  more  smooth,  but  "  Go  home  " 
is  more  vigorous.  "  'Tis  yours  to  live,"  is  a  flash- 
light sentence,  while  ' '  Life  is  the  privilege  and  pre- 
rogative of  all  men, ' '  tires  the  mind  as  an  axiom.  Saxon 
being  the  language  of  our  earlier  and  more  impression- 
able years,  the  power  of  association  makes  such  words 
more  vivid  than  the  I^atinisms,  Hellenisms  and 
Gallicisms  with  which  the  language  of  the  schools 
is  leavened. 

Nothing  pleases,  arouses  and  rests  a  congregation 
like  the  vernacular  of  the  heart.  An  illustration  of 
the  liveliness  and  force  of  monosyllabic  Saxon  is  found 
in  the  familiar  words  of  Goldsmith: 

"  As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form 
Swells  from  the  vale  and  midway  leaves  the  storm : 
Though  'round  its  base  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head!  " 

Translate  that  into  sesquipedalian  and  slow- 
moving  latinity,  and  we  shall  see  how  ner^^e  and  vigor 
degenerate  into  dropsical  feebleness,  thus:  "  As  some 
stupendous  mountain  that  elevates  its  magnificent  pro- 
portions develops  its  dimensions  as  it  emerges  from 
the  valle)^  and  intermediately  surmounts  the  tempest : 
the  rolling  clouds  may  gather  around  its  foundations, 
but  perpetual  huninosity  envelops  its  apex. ' '  In  the  con- 
trast it  seems  absurd,  yet  it  is  such  grandiose  turgidity 


THE   PSYCHOLOGY   OF   STYLE.  69 

that  is  sometimes  heard  from  the  pulpit.  If  the 
Frenchman's  viot,"'  Le  style  c'est  riiomrae,"  be  true, 
then  it  \s  to  be  feared  there  is  a  vein  of  pomposity  in 
not  a  few  preachers.  Addison  speaks  of  a  man  who 
' '  wrote  upon  the  sublime  in  a  low  and  grovelling 
style,"  and  truly  it  is  appropriate  sometimes  to  carry 
the  emotions  of  the  hearers  gradually  upward  to  our 
thoughts  by  words  that  have  in  them  a  sonorous  maj- 
esty. 

It  is  sometimes  better  to  say  ' '  magnificent ' '  than 
' '  grand, "  or  "  illimitable  ' '  rather  than  * '  vast, ' '  but 
for  the  ordinary  work  of  the  pulpit  the  Saxon  mono- 
syllable is  most  forceful.  It  has  an  advantage,  also,  in 
being  often  descriptive,  the  symbol  picturing  the  idea 
to  the  mind.  Note  such  words  as  ' '  split,  crash,  gloom, 
roar,  click,  croak. ' '  There  is  this  additional  advantage, 
that  such  words  adapt  themselves  to  the  speaker's 
elocution  with  more  ease  than  those  which  are  more 
arbitrary  and  complex. 

Again,  and  for  the  same  reason,  avocabularj^  that 
abounds  in  concrete  rather  than  abstract  and  in  specific 
rather  than  generic  words  will  enliven  the  attention 
and  save  extra  mental  exertion.  DeWitt  Talmage  is 
a  conspicuous  example  of  such  a  style,  carried,  perhaps, 
to  excess.  To  illustrate:  "  The  assembling  of  a  mul- 
titude of  townspeople  to  listen  to  the  discussion  of 
current  political  issues  is  an  interesting  study  to  the 
public-spirited  citizen. "  Translate  into  the  concrete: 
"  To  see  the  farmers  and  shop-keepers,  bankers  and 
lawyers,  the  hobbling  veteran  and  gaping  school-boy 
flocking  to  the  town  common  to  hear  Major  Jones's 
talk  on  tariff  and  taxes  is  a  study  to  the  patriot." 


yo  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

Economy  of  attention  is  next  secured  bj^  the  right 
"  assemd/mg  "  of  words  in  clauses  and  of  clauses  in 
the  sentence.  Our  rhetoricians  furnish  many  rules 
for  composition  with  a  view  to  transparency  and  ele- 
gance, but  one  does  not  need  to  understand  the  gar- 
dener's art  in  order  to  have  a  fine  flower-bed,  nor  does 
he  need  to  memorize  rhetorical  rules  in  order  to  clothe 
his  thoughts  in  fitting  stj'le;  natural  taste  and  instinct 
will  come  to  the  aid  of  an  educated  judgment  and  the 
study  of  the  best  writers.  To  this  the  extempore 
'  preacher  will  need  to  add  the  constant  exercise  of  the 
pen,  which  is  the  instrument  of  thought  and  gives 
orderly  march  to  the  mind;  if  it  be  neglected,  the  style 
becomes  vague  and  slovenly;  with  it  not  only  will  his 
vocabulary  become  enriched,  but  in  the  collocation  of 
words  he  will  acquire  facility.  "His  words,  like  so 
many  nimble  and  airy  servitors,  trip  about  him  at  com- 
mand, and,  in  well-ordered  files,  as  he  would  wish,  fall 
aptly  into  their  own  places. ' '  (  Mii^Ton,  Trice  Eloqiience. ) 

In  the  arrangement  of  predicate  and  subject  the 
attention  is  excited  more  effectually  by  pronouncing 
the  predicate  first,  especially  as  it  determines  the  in- 
teresting fact  about  the  subject.  Thus:  "  Sweet  are 
the  uses  of  adversity."  "Heroic  is  the  spirit  of  sacri- 
fice," instead  of  "The  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  heroic." 
Again,  the  qualifications  of  the  subject  should  not  be 
multiplied,  for  the  attempt  to  simultaneously  remem- 
ber them  requires  a  mental  strain  that  is  fatiguing, 
and  hence  the  effect  is  weakened. 

The  matter  of  climax  should  be  carefully  observed. 
L,ord  Kaimes,  in  his  Elements  of  Criticism,  tells  us  that 


THE   PSYCHOLOGY   OF   STYLK.  71 

"to  give  the  utmost  force  to  a  period  it  ought,  if 
possible,  to  be  closed  with  the  word  that  makes  the 
greatest  figure."  But  such  a  rule  will  have  many 
exceptions.  Intelligent  experiment  with  various 
arrangements  of  the  words  and  clauses  will  reveal  the 
one  that  is  the  best.  A  general  rule  may  be  followed, 
however,  that  the  subordinate  parts  of  the  thought 
should  precede  and  lead  up  to  the  main  thought  and 
thus  avoid  a  reaction  of  the  attention,  which  is  always 
weakening.* 

*  A.%Q.\r].,  concentratio7i  is  to  be  studied.  If  brevity f^} 
is  the  soul  of  wit,  not  less  is  it  the  life  of  speech.  The 
Abbe  Roux  says,  ' '  Thoughts  are  fruit  and  words  are 
leaves;  let  us  strip  off  the  leaves  in  order  that  thought, 
thus  exposed  to  the  light,  may  gain  strength,  beauty 
and  flavor."  We  would  rather  say,  thin  out  the 
leaves  when  they  hide  the  fruit  and  exhaust  the 
strength  of  the  vine,  but  let  us  not  forget  that  words 
are  the  nursing  mothers  of  thought. 

s  In  the  next  place  the  various  forms  of  imagery  {  ^  * 

and  %vord-painiing  give  force  to  style.  Not  as  an 
ornament  are  they  to  be  used,  but  to  increase  the 
quickness  of  perception,  to  stimulate  attention,  imag- 
ination and  emotion,  to  open  the  gates  of  the  soul  to 
the  invasion  of  thought.  They  carry  burdens  that 
the  mind  is  thus  relieved  of.  In  a  metaphor  a  whole 
paragraph  of  explanation  is  condensed.     It  is  easier  to    '^ 


*  There  is  a  stj'le  like  that  of  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 
where  the  writer  sees  the  totality  of  a  sentence  or  passage  and  then  pro- 
jects it  entire.  And  there  is  another  like  Shakespeare's  who,  as  Coleridge 
("Table  Talk")  says,  "goes  on  creating  and  evolving  B  out  of  A,  and  C  out 
of  B,  and  so  on,  just  as  a  serpent  moves,  which  makes  a  fulcrum  of  its 
own  body  and  seems  forever  twisting  and  untwisting  its  own  strength." 


72  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

grasp  part  of  a  thing  than  the  whole;  thus:  "  banners 
of  omnipotence"  is  more  striking  than  "armies  of 
omnipotence."  When  the  speaker  says  "like,"  the  \ 
attention  starts  up  to  meet  the  simile.  For  example: 
' '  I^ike  a  thunderbolt  from  a  clear  sk)^  fell  the  ver- 
dict." Sometimes  the  simile  comes  last;  as,  "The 
Assyrian  came  down  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold."  The 
force  of  these  and  other  images  is  in  the  surprise  and 
pleasure  they  awaken  by  associating  objects  in  nature 
and  life  with  facts  that  we  want  vividly  seen.  Care 
must  be  taken,  however,  to  avoid  overloading  with 
elaborate  descriptions  or  redundant  figures — excess  is 
lalways  weakness.  It  is  well,  often,  to  give  a  mere 
[hint  of  the  image  and  sometimes  to  omit  the  formal 
comparison,  leaving  the  imagination  to  outrun  the 
speaker's  expression  and  fill  the  gap, — a  thing  always 
gratifying  to  the  hearer.  We  must  always  be  sure 
that  the  illustration  really  illuminates,  and  is  within 
the  range  of  the  hearer's  comprehension.  If  the  light 
that  is  within  our  illustration  "be  darkness,  how 
great  is  that  darkness  !  ' '  There  is  a  marvelous 
charm  and  witchery  in  that  style  which  may  be  termed 
dramatic-pictorial,  the  bringing-up  the  scene  as  if  it 
were  going  on  before  the  eyes — "word-painting." 
"Painting,"  says  Coleridge,  in  his  Table  Talk,  "is 
the  intermediate  somewhat  between  a  thought  and  a 
thing,"  and  it  applies  equally  to  word-painting  and 
that  of  the  brush.  A  picturesque  style  is  the  most 
vivid  for  putting  ideas  in  the  luminous  concrete.  The 
improvisatore,  the  impassioned  conversationalist,  un- 
consciously uses  this  power,  and  without  it,  in  some 


THE   PSYCHOLOGY   OF   STYLE.  73 

degree,  eloquence  cannot  exist.     This  power  of  word-  ^ 
painting   is  born  more  of   nature    than   of   art,  and, 
though   the   most   powerful  of  the  forces  which  the 
preacher  can  put  in  motion,  is,  strange  to  say,  the  one 
that  is  most   neglected.     He  who  cultivates  and  uses 
this   has   an   infinite   range   before  him   and  mighty     f 
forces  at  his  command.     It  was  when  Thomas  Guthrie  ^ 
adopted  this  style  (though  he  carried  it  to  excess,  as 
he  afterward  confessed)  that  he  found  his  great  pul- 
pit power.  I     ^ 
'    _^uotaJtioas .  f rom   eminent    writers  or  preachers  ^>*^ 
always  awaken  interest  and  lend  authority  to  expressed 
thought,  and  poetical  quotations  that  are  both  illustra- 
tive and  brief  are  effective  with  most  hearers;  they 
must,  however,  be  rare,  both  in  quality  and  quantity.  / 
There  is  force  in  giving  to  Scripture  incidents  a  mod^    / 
ern  setting,  a  familiar  face.     Mr.  Moody,  among  mod-  v 
erns,  is  an  adept  in  this  line.     By  all  means  the  trite, 
stereotyped  and  tame  should  be  shunned.     I  would 
give,  however,  no  encouragement  to  a  style  that  seeks 
effect  by  startling  eccentricities.     There  is  an  extrava- 
gance of  expression  and  a  garishness  of  illustration 
that  is  worse  than  tameness.     Some  sensational  preach- 
ers court  the  ears  of  a  curious  crowd  by  lowering  the 
style  of  pulpit  address  to  the  level  of  the  opera  bouffe. 
The  mania   for  ' '  wild  and  whirling  words ' '   is  con- 
tagious, and  not  a  few   of  the   preachers,  imagining 
that    "the  pulpit   is  losing  its  power,"  believe  they 
can  demonstrate  the  contrary  by  stunning  the  senses  of 
their  hearers  with  flaming  superlatives  and  rhetorical 
rockets.     Simplicity  must  never  degenerate  into  silli- 


V 


74  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

ness,  nor  must  flash  be  mistaken  for  force.  "The 
expressions  of  thought,"  M.  Jules  Claretie  has  some- 
where said,  "  should  be  a  little  like  lightning, — rapid, 
luminous  and  electric,  and  the  more  of  this  rapidity 
and  electricity  it  has,  the  longer — unlike  the  light- 
ning— it  will  last. 

Few  things  are  more  effective  than  anecdote  when 
'  brief  and  pithy;  few  more  demoralizing  when  wrongly 
used.  Christ  used  anecdote  as  well  as  other  forms  of 
illustration,  but  how  apt,  how  luminous!  The  abuse 
of  anecdote  in  these  days  of  abundant  lay  evangelism 
is  a  conspicuous  evil;  its  effective  use  is  a  matter  of 
keen  discrimination  and  of  true  oratorical  tact. 

Illustrations  in  general  are  like  windows  to  a 
house,  but  the)''  should  be  such  as  let  in  and  let  out 
nn colored  light.  They  should  not  be  fanciful,  or  far- 
fetched, or  foreign  to  the  hearers'  appreciation. 
Nature  in  her  infinite  variet}^,  human  nature  in  its 
familiar  traits,  social  life,  current  events,  every-day 
objects  of  the  home,  the  shop,  the  farm,  the  street 
are  more  easily  comprehended  and  more  effective  than 
those  from  the  realm  of  histor}^,  science  or  literature. 
The  latter  are,  however,  eminently  appropriate  to  a 
well-educated  congregation;  and,  indeed,  may  be  made 
effective  with  the  uncultured  if  rightly  handled.  Intro- 
ductions and  supplements  to  illustrations  should  be 
eschewed.  Illustrations  should  be  like  sheet-light- 
ning— quickly  come,  quickly  gone — but  lighting  up 
the  landscape. 

An  illustration   can  often   be  condensed    into  a 
word,    e.  g.,    "the   rust   of    neglect" — "a  vitriolic 


THE  P.SYCIIOLOOY  OF  STYLE.  75 

sneer" — or  into  a  brief  clause,  as  where  Dr.  Guthrie 
says,  "A  selfish  man  whose  heart  is  no  bigger  than 
his  cofiin, — just  room  enough  for  himself,"  or  the 
French  wit,  Rivarol's  criticism  of  Condorcet,  "He 
writes  with  laudanum  on  lead  paper."  Could  a  whole 
chapter  describe  so  well  a  soporific  and  sodden  style  ? 

Most   valuable   illustrative   material   in   compact   '^^ 
form  is  found  in  the  proverbs  of  all  nations  and  ages,   v 
They  are  cut  gems  of  practical  wisdom  that,  in  the 
setting  of  a  sermon,  shed  lustre. 

In  general,  we  may  say  that  the  preacher,  like  the 
poet,  must  speak  the  language  of  our  common  human- 
ity, not  the  dialect  of  a  class.  He  is  to  please,  not 
the  few  cultured  in  the  congregation,  but  all;  and  the 
natural  style,  that  which  springs  from  the  depths  of 
sincerity,  earnestness  and  affection,  which  is  the  child 
of  reality,  will  be  the  realistic  and  effective  style. 
"  When  we  meet  with  the  natural  style,"  says  Pascal, 
"  we  are  highly  delighted,  because  we  expected  to  see 
an  author  and  we  find  a  man."  Contact  with  men's 
actual  experiences,  observation  of  the  incidents  lying 
all  around  one's  path,  open  eyes  and  open  heart,  a 
companionship  with  writers  who  have  seized  and  held 
the  attention  of  mankind, — Shakespeare,  Walter  Scott, 
Wordsworth,  Dickens,  L,e  Sage,  La  Fontaine,  Guthrie, 
Robertson,  Beecher,  Talmage,  Spurgeon,  Brooks,  i' 
etc., — all  differing,  yet  all  presenting  some  features 
that  a  student  can  easily  grasp,  will  go  far  to  develop 
a  psychic  style. 

Dr.  Guthrie  says  the  aim  of  style  is  "to  prove,^ 
to  paint,  to  persuade;  "  it  remains,  then,  to  speak  of 


76  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

the  adaptation  of  language  to  these  ends;  they  each 
have  their  own  place,  and  neither  should  be  over- 
looked. 

,^  A  style  should  be  exact  in  definitioyi;  it  should 

hold  out  in  open  hand  the  point  to  be  proved,  and 
then  its  logical  process  should  be  compact, — no  loop- 
hole for  doubt  to  insert  its  sword-point.  For  the 
proving  of  a  proposition,  elaborate  sentences  and 
arguments  should  be  shunned.  Here,  brevity  and 
condensation  are  jewels.  Nothing  is  so  wearisome  as 
overdoing  in  the  process.  There  are  men  who  do  not 
think  they  have  proved  a  thing  till  they  have  cor- 
ralled all  the  known  proofs  in  the  world,  and  to  make 
weight,  have  heaped  on  top  all  the  analogies,  and  the 
mind  is  overburdened  and  confused.  As  you  listen  to 
some  men  enlarging  the  proofs  of  a  self-evident  propo- 
sition you  feel  like  uttering  the  rebuke  the  Athenian 
populace  hurled  at  the  rhetorician,  who  began  his 
harangue  with  the  praises  of  the  strength  and  prowess 
of  Hercules,  ' '  Does  any  one  doubt  it  ?  "     Cut  short 

-^  the   reasoning   and   paint   the   whole   matter   to   the 
imagination  and  feeling,  so  as  to  lead  to  action. 

People  are  largely  moved  by  their  imagination 
and  sympathies.  We  must  carry  them  along  familiar 
ways  of  thought  and  then  beyond  them.  Sometimes 
a  word  will  awaken  in  the  hearer  a  lively  picture  of  a 
scene  or  object,  and  if  we  associate  our  thought  with 
such  a  memor}^,  we  have  made  an  impression.  To 
raise  the  curiosity  on  the  instant  by  some  surprise, 
interrogation,  exclamation  or  apostrophe  throws  open 
the   gateways   of    fancJ^     An    effective    style    must 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OT'  STYLE.  77 

always  have  regard  to  this  powerful  ally  in  the  effort 
to  persuade.  As  a  rule,  the  onset  should  be  bold  and 
vigorous,  that  the  audience  may  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  strength  of .  your  position.  "I  prefer,"  says 
Montaigne,  "  those  writers  who  level  the  first  charge 
against  the  strongest  doubt.  I  look  for  good  and 
solid  reasons  to  come  after." 

WTiat  shall  we  say  of  the  craving  for  originality 
in  the  aspiring  preacher  ? — originality  in  modes  of 
thought  and  expression?  It  is  to  be  commended — 
with  discrimination.  Only  the  lower  order  of  minds 
are  content  to  travel  in  the  worn  ruts  of  convention- 
ality and  axiom.  But  originality,  like  happiness,  is 
apt  to  elude  those  who  seek  it  directly  and  for  its  own 
sake.  In  avoiding  the  stereotyped  they  may  only  fly 
to  the  eccentric;  the  fear  of  being  commonplace  has 
driven  men  into  the  outlandish.  Montesquieu  says, 
"  When  people  run  after  smartness,  they  capture  silli- 
ness." {Qzia7id  on  court  aprcs  V esprit,  on  attrape  la 
sottisc. )  But  if  a  man  would  be  original  in  a  safe, 
sensible  and  sane  way,  let  him  make  an  independent 
and  absolutely  free  study  of  the  great  facts  which 
cluster  around  the  soul,  which  have  their  centre  in 
the  Cross  and  their  circumference  in  the  eternities; 
let  him  closely  and  perpetually  study  human  nature 
with  his  own  eyes  and  through  the  eyes  of  its  great 
interpreters,  and  above  all,  its  divine  interpreter,  the 
Bible;  let  him  go  forth  and  patiently  study  the  infinite 
variet}^  and  freshness  of  Nature's  symbolisms;  let  him 
descend  reverently  and  sympathetically  into  the  depths 
of  Christ's  sacrificial  soul;  let  him  wed  his  heart  and 


78  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

thought  to  the  actual  and  true  in  human  life  to-day^ 
and  he  cannot  be  commonplace. 

There  is  no  Pierian  Spring  like  that  fount  which 
the  lovely  bosom  of  nature  offers  to  her  true  children. 
If  a  man  be  natural  and  perpetually  replenished,  he 
will  be  sufi&ciently  original  to  be  true.  If  he  be  arti- 
ficial, he  is  an  imitator,  whether  he  knows  it  or  not. 
True  originality  is  unconscious,  simple  and  child-like 
in  its  spontaneity  and  modesty. 

Psychic  energ}^  in  style  is  that  quality  which 
gives  a  sense  of  power  in  the  speaker  or  in  the  truth 
he  speaks,  and  thus  forces  attention  to  the  subject  in 
hand  and  stamps  it  on  the  mind  of  the  hearer.  It 
belongs  to  that  force  of  nature,  thought  and  character 
which  are  pre-eminently  personal.  Strong  character 
generates  strong  thought,  formulates  a  strong  style  in 
composition.  This  is  the  general  rule,  but  specific 
interferences  of  an  abnormal  and  conventional  charac- 
ter may  limit  its  universal  application. 

A  psychic  style  possesses  that  vital,  sympathetic, 
human  relation  to  a  man's  language  by  which  he 
makes  the  words  personal  to  his  own  idiosyncrasy, 
fills  them  with  his  own  quality  and  tone  of  feeling  and 
gives  his  hearer  the  vivid  consciousness  of  being  in 
direct  electric  touch  with  a  living,  sensitive,  mental 
and  spiritual  force.  If  he  wields  the  vocabulary  as 
something  outside  of  himself  or  decorates  himself  in 
rhetoric,  as  in  a  garment,  he  does  not  fulfill  this  idea. 
"  Style,"  says  Schopenhauer,  "  is  the  physiognomy  of 
the  mind,  and  is  a  safer  index  to  character  even  than 
the  face."  A  psychic  style  is  the  identification  of  the 
man  with  his  thought. 


THB  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  STYLE.  79 

The  great  source  of  energy  of  style  is  energy  of 
thought.  A  certain  largeness  of  nature  is  essential. 
A  man  may  be,  as  Pascal  says,  "a  thinking  reed," 
but  a  trumpet  blast  cannot  come  out  of  a  flute.  A 
man  may  be  both  logical  and  instructive,  and  his  style 
still  lack  psychic  energy.  Cicero  the  philosopher  and 
Cicero  the  orator  are  like  different  men.  "You  say 
thus  and  thus,"  calmly  afiirms  the  writer.  "  Do  you 
mean  to  tell  us  thus  and  thus  ?  "  demands  the  impas- 
sioned speaker.  The  writer  asserts  that  ' '  the  excesses 
of  Catiline  became  at  last  insupportable  to  the  patience 
of  the  Senate."  "How  long  will  you  abuse  our 
patience,  Catiline!"  exclaims  the  orator.  What  a 
thunderbolt  from  a  clear  sky  with  which  to  commence 
an  exordium! 

Of  the  relation  of  style  to  the  emotions  and  will 
I  shall  speak  in  another  place.  I  close  here  with  the 
remark  that  we  must  in  composition  keep  in  sight  the 
true  aim  of  the  sermon.  If  a  man  work  as  a  sculptor 
on  the  marble  or  a  painter  on  the  canvas,  to  produce 
something  artistic  he  will  be  likely  to  have  his  reward, 
viz.:  the  approval,  more  or  less,  of  his  audience  before 
whom  the  work  is  displayed;  but  he  will  not  reap 
much  other  fruit  from  all  his  labor.  A  locomotive,  a 
printing  press  or  a  machine  gun  may  be  a  work  of 
ingenuity  and  art,  but  that  is  not  its  object,  and  its 
sole  worth  is  in  its  power  of  execution.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  sermon;  fashioned  symmetrically,  adorned 
with  illustration,  welded  and  tempered  in  the  fires  of 
genius,  its  aim  is  to  convince,  convert  and  reconstruct 
men.  "A  great  sermonizer!  "  you  say.  What  I 
want  to  know  is.  Is  he  a  great  soul-saver  ? 


So  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

What  Prof.  Guizot  said  twenty  years  ago  has, 
unfortunately,  a  present  application.  Speaking  from 
the  point  of  view  of  a  professor  of  history  in  a  great 
university,  he  thus  compares  the  pulpit  eloquence  of 
the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  with  that  of  modern 
times.  "  I  said  just  now,  gentlemen,  that  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries  the  character  of  literature 
had  ceased  to  be  a  literature — that  it  had  become,  in 
fact,  di  power ;  that  in  writing  and  speaking  men  aimed 
only  at  actual  and  immediate  results;  that  they  sought 
neither  science  nor  intellectual  pleasure,  and  that  for 
this  reason  the  age  was  fruitful  in  nothing  but  ser- 
mons and  similar  works.  This  fact  is  impressed  upon 
the  sermons  themselves.  Those  of  modern  times  have 
a  style  more  literary  than  practical.  The  orator 
aspires  more  after  beauty  of  language,  after  the  intel- 
lectual satisfaction  of  his  hearers,  than  to  reach  the 
depths  of  their  souls  to  produce  real  effects,  notable 
reforms,  efficacious  conversions.  Nothing  of  this 
sort — nothing  of  the  literary  character  in  the  sermons 
of  which  I  have  just  been  speaking  to  you;  not  one 
thought  of  expressing  themselves  nicel3^  of  combin- 
ing images  and  ideas  with  art.  The  orator  goes  to 
the  point;  he  wants  to  do  a  work;  he  turns  and  turns 
again  in  the  same  circle;  he  has  no  fear  of  repetition, 
of  familiarity,  not  even  the  inelegant  and  common- 
place. He  speaks  briefly,  but  recommences  every 
morning.  This  is  not  sacred  eloquence ;  it  is  religious 
power. "^ 

*  Guizot's  "  Histoire  de  la  Civilisation,"  Vol.  11.,  p.  24. 


The  Psychology  of  Emotion  and  Will 


CHAPTER  VI 


The  Psychology  of  Emotion  and  Will 


THE  crowning  aim  of  the  preacher  is  to  lead  men 
to   action   towards  good — towards   the  best — 
towards   God.     Subjective   psychology  is   the 
philosophy  of  action.     A  knowledge  of  it  will  teach 
him  how  to  touch  those  springs  of  action — emotion, 
desire,  will. 

'  'Always  throwing  light  upon  the  matter — that  is 
the  only  sort  of  speech  worth  speaking,"  said  Thomas 
Carlyle;  but  He  who  "  knew  what  was  in  man  "  said, 
' '  Light  is  come  into  the  world,  but  men  love  darkness 
rather  than  light."  Light  alone  is  not  life,  nor  has  it 
power  to  create  love.  The  intellect,  however  illu- 
mined, has  in  it  no  force. 

There  is  a  pathetic,  and  often  tragic,  gulf  between 
knowing  and  doing.  It  is  the  preacher's  crucial  work 
to  bridge  that  chasm.  Bunyan's  "Slough  of  De- 
spond," into  which  tons  of  theological  works  had 
been  dumped  without  filling  it  up,  is  solid  ground 
compared  with  this  yawning  crevasse.  The  Divine 
Preacher  realized  this  when,  in  closing  His  marvelous 
sermon  on  the  mount,  he  said,  "  He  that  heareth 
these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them  not,"  etc. 

Knowing,  feeling  and  willing  are  the  triumvirate 
that  move  and  direct  life,  the  verdict  of  neither  of 
them  apart  from  the  rest  is  effective — at  least  it  is  not 

8i 


82  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

normally  nor  permanently  effective.  Feeling  alone  is 
inoperative  and  unproductive.  It  is  not  an  end  in 
itself,  but  a  means  to  an  end.  The  natural  history  of 
an  emotion  is  to  arise,  to  increase,  to  culminate,  to 
recede  and  to  vanish;  and  this  history  is  usually  very 
brief.  The  will  has  no  originating  or  self-determinat- 
ing power,  but  is  under  the  stimulus  and  control  of 
the  emotions. 

It  is  the  work  of  the  preacher  to  carefully  study 
the  co-relation  of  the  emotions  and  the  will,  for  of 
these  he  must  become,  in  a  sense,  the  master.  What 
Plato  calls  "the  divine  art  of  ruling  men's  souls" 
belongs  to  him,  and  if  he  would  not  dishonor  his 
throne,  he  will  realize  the  glory  and  responsibility  of 
his  vicegerency.  There  is  no  work  so  sublime  as  to 
influence  souls,  and  its  responsibility  is  infinite. 

It  is  said  that  in  moving  a  finger  a  man  is  starting 
a  force  that  may  take  the  round  of  the  universe.  It 
is  certain  that  in  performing  a  particular  act  or  in 
uttering  a  word  a  man  may  be  putting  in  motion  a 
moral  potency  which  may  reach  to  the  limit  of  a  man's 
life,  and  even  over  the  world  itself,  and  go  down 
through  generations,  as  did  the  appeal  of  the  humble 
minister  when  he  touched  the  chords  of  Robert  Mof- 
fat's heart. 

Some  general  considerations  of  the  psychology  of 
the  emotions  and  the  will  every  earnest  preacher  will 
grasp: 

I.  Emotion  is  a  tremendous  power;  it  may  be 
called  the  electricity  of  moral  life — a  magnificent,  a 
wonderful  and  also  a  perilous  element.     Under  the 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY    OF   EMOTION  AND  WILL-  83 

direction  of  a  skillful  leader  of  men  emotion  may 
furnish  the  motive  power  of  conversion  in  an  individual 
or  a  nation.  vSavonarola  from  his  pulpit  transformed 
the  Florentine  republic  from  moral  debauchery  to  a 
theocracy,  and  amidst  the  wildest  enthusiasm  had 
Christ  proclaimed  ' '  King  of  Florence. ' '  Sacred  songs 
superseded  ribald  ballads  in  the  streets,  and  the  car- 
nival of  depravity  gave  place  to  festivals  of  religious 
chastity.  On  the  other  hand,  Robespierre  and  his 
atheists,  working  upon  the  same  elements,  turned 
Paris  into  a  pandemonium  of  incredible  crimes  and 
enthroned  a  prostitute  as  its  tutelary  divinity  under 
the  name  of  the  "  Goddess  of  Reason." 

II.  The  excitement  of  the  emotions  may  lead  to 
faith  or  fanaticism,  according  as  it  is  guided  by  the 
moral  intelligence.  Ignorant  or  unscrupulous  preach- 
ers have  seized  this  susceptibility  and  wrought  up 
excitements  and  startling  and  harmful  manifestations. 
On  the  other  hand,  anaesthetic  preachers  have  sup- 
pressed emotion  to  the  extent  of  producing  a  moral 
atrophy  and  spiritual  paralysis.  There  are  innocent 
young  sermons  that  touch  the  emotions  as  a  breath 
wakes  a  faint  note  on  the  seolian,  that  exhausts  itself 
in  a  sigh;  and  there  are  storm  sermons  that  gash,  like 
lightning,  the  murky  clouds  of  the  soul  and  send 
awful  reverberations  through  its  depths.  Between 
these  extremes  there  are  all  degrees  of  the  emotional 
element  in  sermons.  Those  which  address  themselves 
chiefly  to  the  reasoning  powers  should  not  be  destitute 
of  this  feature;  at  least  it  should  appear  in  the  appli- 
cation or  peroration,  while  those  which  appeal  chiefly 


84  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

to  the  affections  should  spring  from  and  be  controlled 
by  reason.  The  metaphysical  and  the  sentimental 
sermon  both  are  equally  deficient  in  ps3-chic  energy. 

III.  Men  are  led  to  action  in  all  spheres  of  life  by 
the  excitement  of  einotio7i.  The  very  word  carries  in 
it  that  meaning.  lyove,  hate,  delight,  dread,  sympa- 
thy, contempt,  joy,  grief,  etc.,  are  essential  and 
potent  factors  in  the  drama  of  souls.  The  distinction 
sometimes  drawn  by  theologians  between  natural 
emotion  and  religions  emotion  is,  I  think,  as  un- 
founded as  the  distinction  which  a  late  distinguished 
professor*  draws  between  sacred  and  secular  music. 
Emotion,  like  music,  is  a  simple  elemeyit.  Love  is 
love,  whether  it  embrace  sin  or  holiness;  it  is  awak- 
ened in  the  same  way  by  that  which  is  lovely  (or 
seems  so),  and  it  acts  in  the  same  way,  drawing  its 
subject  towards  the  object. 

When  the  Spirit  of  God,  through  the  Word,  so 
acts  upon  the  soul  as  to  reveal  to  the  soul  both  sin 
and  holiness  and  the  heart  and  God  in  their  true 
character,  the  corresponding  emotions  are  awakened 
and  act  in  their  characteristic  way.  Thus  it  is  not  the 
emotions  that  are  changed  in  character,  but  ' '  the  eyes 
of  the  understanding  are  opened  ' '  to  see  things  in  a 
new  light.  Emotion  is  not  religious  nor  irreligious; 
it  is  a  psychic  element,  absolutely  under  the  sway  of 
the  objects  presented  to  it,  either  external  or  internal, 
as  they  are  or  as  they  appear  to  be. 

IV.  Our  higher  emotions  are  not  only  faculties 
of  feeling,  parallel  and  ranking  with  our  powers  of 


*  Dr.  John  A.  Broadus,  Sermon  on  Worship. 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY   OF   EMOTION  AND  WILL.         85 

intellect  and  will,  but  they  are  of  extreme  value  as  the 
greatest  aid  we  naturally  have  in  the  pursuit  of  all 
that  is  truthful,  beautiful  and  good. 

The  place  of  the  emotions  in  religion  is  clearly 
defined.  Their  existence  is  a  sign  of  moral  worth, 
and  carries  in  it  the  hope  of  salvability.  Any  state  in 
which  they  are  absent  must  be  that  of  a  fatally 
maimed  moral  nature.  To  be  "past  feeling"  is,  in 
Scripture,  equivalent  to  being  past  hope.  Conse- 
quently, appeals  intended  to  arouse  the  emotions  from 
a  latent  or  feeble  to  an  active  state  are  in  the  highest 
degree  reasonable  and  important.  In  fact,  the  culture 
and  development  of  the  emotions  is  the  true  object  at 
which  all  the  higher  arts  aim. 

V.  Emotion  is  awakened  by  either  physical  or 
mental  stimulants.  We  produce  certain  effects  upon 
the  nervous  system  through  the  media  of  the  senses. 
All  the  senses  are  thus  instruments  of  emotion,  carry- 
ing along  the  nerves  to  the  soul  appropriate  impres- 
sions and  awakening  corresponding  emotions.  The 
same  is  true  of  images  and  ideas  presented  directly  to 
the  mind  by  the  exercises  of  the  mind  itself — as  by 
memory  or  imagination.  The  function  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  which  must  never  be  lost  sight  of,  is  to  create 
those  appetencies  which  will  receive  these  impressions 
in  a  way  harmonious  with  his  own  nature — /.  e. ,  with 
righteousness.  The  preacher  does  not  need  the  aid 
of  the  Spirit  to  awaken  emotion,  but  that  the  emotion 
awakened  shall  act  in  a  righteous,  that  is,  in  a  normal 
way,  free  from  the  morbid  tendency  of  man's  fallen 
nature. 


86  PSYv^vHXC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

As  a  rule,  ideas,  to  be  quickening,  must  be  pre- 
sented in  a  concrete  form;  abstractions  do  not  kindle 
emotion.  The  teachings  of  Christ  and  all  of  those 
who  have  moved  men's  hearts  and  changed  their  lives 
have  been  pictorial,  parabolic,  incarnated  in  the  facts 
and  memories  of  actual  life. 

VI.  The  preacher  must  reckon  with  the  antago- 
nizing current  of  perverted  and  chronic  feelings  as  it 
affects  trains  of  thought.  Conceit  and  settled  prejudice 
are  among  his  veteran  foes.  He  must  also  remember 
that  opposite  or  contrasting  emotions  exclude  one 
another,  the  more  powerful  remaining;  as,  for  in- 
stance, dread  excludes  hope,  while  feelings  of  the 
same  or  allied  kind  intensify  one  another.  Intense 
feeling  lords  it  over  all  the  other  powers;  a  tidal  wave 
of  emotion  will  sweep  away,  for  the  moment,  every 
vestige  of  opposing  arguments  and  facts.  ' '  Feeling 
is  not  merely  a  nihilist,  but  an  iconoclast;  we  even 
repudiate  what  we  have  felt,  insisted  on  and  revered." 
Our  feelings  sometimes  distort  our  common  sense  by 
smiting  us  with  mental  strabismus.  The  emotion  of 
fear  or  hate,  for  instance,  can  produce  the  most  in- 
credible beliefs.  A  chronic  self-complacency  so  braces 
the  confidence  of  the  self-righteous  man  in  his  course 
that,  in  spite  of  habitual  failures  to  satisfy  his  con- 
science and  judgment,  he  persists  in  his  self-righteous 
effort  with  as  full  assurance  as  though  all  the  others 
had  succeeded. 

VII.  "Special  regard  should  be  given  to  the 
tender  emotion.  It  surpasses  every  other  life  interest 
because  of  its  social  relations,  its  touch  of  nature, 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY   OF   EMOTION  AND  WILL.         87 

which  makes  the  whole  world  kin;  its  sympathy, 
which  enters  into  the  feelings  of  others  for  their  be- 
hoof— a  vicarious  impulse  in  opposition  to  the  self- 
seeking  spirit." 

The  congregation  as  a  whole  and  each  individual 
thereof  represent  two  sentiments,  the  egoistic  and  the 
altrui.stic.  The  degree  in  which  each  is  developed 
varies  greatly.  With  some  the  altruistic  is  in  excess; 
their  concern  is  for  others;  they  scarcely  consider 
themselves  to  a  degree  needful  for  their  own  preser- 
vation. With  others,  the  egoistic  is  so  supreme  that 
everything  that  passes  through  the  alembic  of  their 
thoughts  is  made  to  take  its  quality  and  character,  as 
it  is  advantageous  to  themselves.  Between  these 
extremes  there  is  every  gradation.  The  preacher  is 
to  act  upon  both  these  sentiments,  to  stimulate  by 
proper  excitements  and  guide  in  proper  directions  both 
these  springs  of  action. 

Concerning  the  egoistic,  ideas  and  images,  mem- 
ory and  imagination  are  to  be  invoked  which  will 
awaken  the  hope  of  pleasure,  of  acquisition,  of  pos- 
session, and  those  which  awaken  fear  of  personal  pain, 
privation  and  penalty  and  peril;  while  in  the  case  of 
the  altruistic  we  are  to  present  the  sorrows,  dangers, 
distresses,  necessities  of  others  whereby  compassion, 
sympathy  and  benevolent  self-sacrifice  are  awakened. 
One  man's  emotions  are  aroused  chieflj'  by  appeals  to 
his  self-love,  self-preser\^ation,  self -gratification;  he 
can  only  be  constrained  to  action  by  fear  of  present 
and  future  loss  and  suffering,  or  hope  of  gain,  enjoy- 
ment and  reward,  while  another  is  most  effectually 


88  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

aroused  by  the  picture  of  how  others  are  to  suffer  pain 
and  injury,  or  be  made  happier  by  the  way  in  which 
he  treats  the  Gospel  message. 

//  is  vain  and  useless  to  appeal  to  7nen  to  feel  as  a 
matter  of  duty  or  reason.  Men  are  never  afraid  of  sin 
because  they  ought  to  be,  nor  do  they  love  God  be- 
cause to  love  Him  is  of  the  highest  reason.  Men  are 
simply  wearied  and  antagonized  by  such  vague  and 
impotent  exhortations. 

The  link  that  connects  feeling  with  action  must 
be  studied.  It  springs  from  the  law  that  connects 
pleasure  with  larger  sense  of  life  and  the  converse. 
Desire  and  volition  are  directly  related  to  action. 
Desire  naturally  prompts  volition.  Action  is  the  child 
of  both.  Desire  is  often  estopped  by  conscious  or 
imagined  inability  to  act.  Hence  we  speak  of  the 
' '  pain  of  longing ' '  and  of  an  aching  desire.  In 
general,  desire  springs  into  pursuit;  thus  avarice  is 
the  pursuit,  not  the  enjoyment,  of  wealth. 

Motive,  strictly  speaking,  denotes  not  the  intrin- 
sic value  of  the  object  presented,  but  its  value  as  it 
stands  in  the  view  of  the  mind;  not  reality,  but  appear- 
ance governs  decision.  For  instance,  suppose  Christ, 
in  His  true  character  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
the  incarnation  of  all  that  is  supremely  lovable  and 
trustworthy,  be  presented  to  the  contemplation  of  a 
worldly  man  and  his  will  rejects  him.  Now,  as  the 
mind  is  incapable  of  rejecting  a  good  or  choosing  an 
evil  as  such,  it  is  plain  that  the  reality  and  appearance 
of  good  is  in  the  state  of  the  mind.  Here  lies  the 
essence  of  erroneous  choice — the  will   preferring  an 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY   OF   EMOTION  AND  WIIJ..         89 

object  which  is  apparently,  but  not  really,  preferable. 
Objective  appearance  is  the  determination  of  choice. 

VIII.  The  preacher  must  not  trifle  ivith  the  emo- 
tions. This  he  may  be  tempted  to  do  in  order  to  show 
his  power,  or  simply  for  the  gratification  of  the  hearer 
himself;  for  there  are  those  who  are  pleased  to  be 
wrought  upon  by  the  pulpit  in  the  same  manner  that 
they  are  pleased  with  an  exciting  play  or  novel.  But 
the  preacher  has  a  serious  aim.  If  he  excites  emotion, 
it  is  to  win  the  heart,  to  induce  decision  and  to  build 
character.  Emotion  wrought  up  with  no  ulterior 
object  is  both  an  abuse  and  an  injury  to  the  moral 
nature.  When  the  attention  is  thoroughly  awakened 
and  steadily  held,  the  hearer  is  like  a  well-tuned  harp, 
each  chord  a  distinct  emotion,  and  the  skillful  speaker 
may  evoke  a  response  from  one  or  more  at  his  will. 
This  lays  him  under  a  grand  and  serious  responsibility. 
Let  him  keep  steadily  at  such  a  time  to  his  divine 
purpose,  to  produce  a  healthful  action,  a  life  in 
harmony  with  God  and  a  symphony  of  service. 

It  has  always  been  found  that  of  those  hearers 
who  have  enjoyed  an  instructive  ministry  through  a 
course  of  years  when,  in  a  time  of  religious  awaken- 
ing, they  are  powerfully  wrought  upon,  the  emotional 
excitement  does  not  vanish  fruitlessly,  but  usually 
leads  to  intelligent  conversion;  while  those  who  have 
grown  up  under  periodical  excitements  become  seared, 
as  by  fire,  and  often  skeptical. 

IX.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the 
most  powerful  feelings  are  sometimes  independent  of 
the  reasoning  powers.    As  a  careful  student  of  motives 


go  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

has  said:  "  Reason,  reason,  as  much  as  you  like;  but 
beware  of  thinking  that  it  answers  for  everything. 
This  mother  loves  her  child ;  will  reason  comfort  her  ? 
Does  cool  reason  control  the  inspired  poet,  the  heroic 
warrior,  the  lover  ?  Reason  guides  but  a  small  part 
of  man,  and  that  the  least  interesting.  The  rest 
obeys  feeling,  true  or  false;  and  passion,  good  or 
bad."      {AbbS  Roux.) 

X.  Emotion  is  the  power  whereby  the  man  in  the 
pulpit  and  the  people  in  the  pews  are  physically  uni- 
fied; it  must  be,  therefore,  coming  and  going  between 
them  with  a  trustful  sympathy.  Gladstone  charac- 
terized as  the  supreme  influence  of  the  speaker  the 
' '  power  of  receiving  from  his  audience  in  a  vapor 
what  he  pours  back  upon  them  in  a  flood."  The 
preacher  who  would  sway  an  audience  must  not  be 
anxious  about  professional  dignity;  must  be  willing  to 
let  himself  go  with  what  the  French  call  abandon; 
letting  nature  assert  herself,  fearless  of  criticism, 
indifferent  to  conventional  ideas.  How  manifest  is 
this  free  emotional  element  in  Christ  and  in  the 
Apostle  Paul ! 

If  a  preacher  is  deficient  in  it,  he  must  develop 
that  side  of  his  nature;  if  it  be  in  excess,  it  must  be 
controlled  and  disciplined  if  he  would  gain  in  power. 
Even  congregations  may,  through  long  training  under 
an  unemotional  ministry,  become  defective  in  suscepti- 
bility; while  others,  through  the  over- stimulus  of 
emotional  preachers,  become  either  ennuyee  or  hysteri- 
cal. If  emotion  is  awakened  habitually  without  a 
basis  of  reasoning  and  the  guidance  of  truth;  if  it  be 


The  psychology  of  emotion  and  will.      91 

not  the  fruit  of  Scriptural  ideas,  it  will  be  abortive. 
Hence  a  preaching  that  is  sweetly  sentimental  or  per- 
sistently exciting,  as  in  certain  kinds  of  "revival 
meetings,"  becomes  debilitating,  and  even  hardening. 
A  healthy  excitation  of  the  feelings  through  a  vital 
presentation  of  the  truth  should  bring  forth  the  fruit 
of  vigorous  action. 

XI.  Emotion,  I  said,  is  not  an  end  in  itself. 
While  as  a  faculty  it  adds  its  own  characteristic  ele- 
ment to  human  life,  giving  to  it  its  deepest  interest, 
yet,  in  the  attainment  of  life's  essential  aim,  which  is 
not  pleasure,  but  achievement  and  character,  emotion 
must  subserve  that  regal  faculty  of  the  soul  to  which 
all  the  others  are  subject,  viz.,  the  will.  It  is  this 
which  develops  character  and  shapes  the  issues  of 
eternity. 

XII.  The  sermon  aims  at  the  will.  The  philo- 
sophic or  didactic  treatise  may  attain  its  end  in  reach- 
ing the  understanding;  the  aesthetic  discourse  appeals 
to  the  taste  and  sentiment;  but  the  sermon  only 
achieves  its  mission  when  it  rouses  the  will  to  action. 
Will  consists  in  capacity  for  free  choice.  Its  function 
is  to  choose  between  the  various  objects  of  attraction 
or  desire,  or,  in  certain  circumstances,  to  act  in  accord- 
ance with  purely  intellectual  or  moral  motives  and  in 
opposition  to  impulses  and  desires. 

Emotion  develops  into  motive  and  desire  into 
will.  An  essential  condition  of  willing  is  an  adequate 
psychic  cause.  The  will  has  no  self-determining 
power.  It  is  swayed  by  the  feelings,  motives,  desires, 
passions — a  vast  variety  of  influences  from  within  and 


92  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN    PREACHING. 

without.  While  we  present  motives  to  a  certain 
course  of  conduct,  we  are  to  present  those  which  will 
lead  men  to  resist  the  appeal  of  motives  that  are  coun- 
teracting. The  will  is  certainly  led  to  choose  by  the 
presentation  of  motives,  but  the  influence  of  motives 
which  ought  to  govern  the  will  depends  on  the  state 
of  the  heart.  Hence  the  need  of  the  "new  heart" 
and  the  "  right  spirit,"  which  only  God  can  bestow. 
Still,  God  works  with  men,  i.  e.,  gives  the  heart 
which  will  feel  the  influence  of  good  motives  at  the 
time  they  are  presented. 

The  preacher  should  continually  bear  in  mind 
that  while  the  will  is  governed  in  its  decisions  by  fixed 
laws,  the  element  of  a  perverted  nature  must  always 
be  reckoned  with.  The  heart  is  so  full  of  errors, 
prejudices  and  delusions  that  things  most  excellent  in 
themselves  are  commonly  rejected  through  the  "  de- 
ceitfulness  of  the  heart."  We  address  people  whose 
ethical  ideas  are  misty  and  confused  by  false  popular 
maxims  and  social  customs. 

We  must  also  keep  in  mind  the  feebleness  and 
vagrancy  of  the  will  power  in  many.  In  most  it  is 
weak  towards  good  and  strong  towards  evil.  The 
feeble  will  is  one  that  needs  to  be  wrought  upon  by 
the  more  powerful  emotion;  a  greater  severity  of  pain 
or  a  greater  attraction  of  pleasure  must  be  presented 
to  the  mind. 

This  is  equally  true  where  the  conscience  has 
become  blunted  and  where  familiarity  has  generated 
indifference.  The  pltysician  of  souls  has  to  deal 
largely  with  settled  habits  of   levity,  indolence  and 


THR  PSYCHOLOGY    OF    EMOTION  AXD  \VIIJ<.         93 

procrastination.  In  such  conditions,  to  arouse  the  will 
to  action  requires  intense  vitality  and  startling,  alarm- 
ing, pathetic  and  vehement  address.  Many  of  the 
most  powerful  preachers  of  former  generations  aimed, 
like  the  prophets  of  old,  to  awaken  terror.  I  speak 
not  of  rude  and  fiery  exhorters,  but  men  of  the  best 
culture  and  piety  of  their  age,  such  as  Chrysostom 
and  Savonarola,  Massillon  and  Jonathan  Edwards, 
Whitefield  and  James  Parsons.  A  phenomenon  worth 
stud^-ing  is  the  almost  entire  absence  from  the  preach- 
ing of  to-day  of  the  appeal  to  fear  and  the  presentation 
of  the  "  terror  of  the  Lord,"  of  which  Paul  speaks — 
a  persuasive  factor  which  is  never  obsolete.  Is  the 
lapse  of  that  once  powerful  feature  rational,  scriptural, 
evangelical,  or  simply  super-aesthetical  ?  I  am  not 
speaking  of  the  form,  but  of  the  fact  and  spirit  of  it. 

It  is  the  preacher's  object  to  awaken  such  feelings 
and  present  such  motives  as  are  strongest  with  his 
particular  hearers.  They  must,  therefore,  spring  from 
their  level,  from  their  memory,  their  experiences,  their 
familiar  observation,  since  motives  drawn  from  a  region 
remote  from  their  actual  life  meet  no  response.  The 
trend  of  consciousness,  as  determined  by  past  experi- 
ences, always  enters  into  our  willing. 

Imagination  and  e7ithnsiasin,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  twin  sisters,  are  valuable  factors  in  arousing 
the  will. 

The  power  to  think  visually,  to  picture  spiritual 
and  invisible  things  as  present  and  acting  together 
with  actual  and  passing  events  and  the  outgoing  fire 
of  the  speaker's  glowing  soul,  is  irresistible.     Malle- 


94  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN  PRKACHING. 

branche  says,  '^ ' Un passione  hnetit  totijours''^  (an  im- 
passioned man  always  moves).  And  he  adds:  "Al- 
though his  rhetoric  may  be  confused,  it  fails  not  to  be 
very  impressive  because  his  air  and  manner  make  it 
felt,  agitating  the  imagination  and  touching  the 
heart."  "  The  secret  of  orator)^,"  says  George  Eliot, 
' '  lies  not  in  saying  new  things,  but  in  saying  them 
with  a  certain  power  that  moves  the  hearer. ' '  The 
primitive  meaning  of  enthusiasm  is  God-within-ness; 
and  the  enthusiast  is  an  inspired  man,  to  whom  mind 
and  heart  and  will  respond,  as  feeling  that  a  moral 
power  is  acting  upon  them  which  they  cannot  resist. 
Some  men's  natures  are  like  seething  ge3^sers;  others, 
like  the  genial  glow  of  June;  but  to  carry  a  popular 
audience  with  him,  there  is  nothing  that  helps  the 
preacher  more  than  the  psychic  force  of  the  contagious 
warmth  and  outgoing  impulse  of  enthusiasm.  But 
the  effects  of  enthusiasm  are  largeh^  evanescent — the 
iron  must  be  shaped  on  the  anvil  of  facts  by  the  ham- 
mer of  truth  while  it  is  at  white  heat. 

XIII.  Some  of  the  new  psychologists  hold  that 
' '  character  is  the  sole  immediate  cause  of  voluntary 
action;  motives  are  only  mediate  causes  of  them." 
If  by  this  they  mean  the  normal,  voluntary  action,  it 
is  true;  a  man's  habitual  actions  are  the  fruit  of  his 
character;  but  this  only  proves  the  need  of  diverting 
him  from  his  natural  trend,  lifting  him  above  his  nor- 
mal action  by  the  stimulus  and  stress  of  motives  and 
emotions  adequate  to  produce  such  an  effect.  An 
illustrative  and  typical  case  of  such  action  is  in  the 
declaration  of  Paul,  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY   OF   EMOTION  AND  WILL.         95 

US. ' '  Notice  the  comprehensive  movement  indicated 
by  the  Greek — seizing  upon  and  carrying  tis  above  and 
beyond  our  natural  selves. 

XIV.  The  preacher  must  ever  bear  in  mind  that 
the  dominant  and  permanent  passion  of  human  nature 
is  the  insatiable  desire  to  enjoy  life  iti  its  fulness,  and 
take  that  as  the  key  to  the  situation,  the  strategic 
point  of  his  campaign. 

Pascal  tells  us  that  ' '  desire  and  compulsion  are  the 
source  of  all  our  actions — desire  of  the  voluntary  and 
compulsioyi  of  the  involuntary."  * 

(^La  concupiscence  et  la  force  son  t  la  soiirce  de  toittcs  7ios 
actions  ;  la  conciipiscence  fait  les  volontaires  ;  la  force  les 
involontaires.'' — Pascal:  PensecsY.^  p.  220,  Paris  ed.) 

I  suppose  he  uses  the  word  "  desire  "  in  a  broad, 
generic  sense,  embracing  every  inclination  to  act  in 
obedience  to  intensive  feelings  of  whatever  class.  All 
animal  nature  is  surging  with  the  swell  of  this  vast 
tide  of  intensive  desires.  In  every  direction  we  have 
objects  to  stimulate  them;  on  the  one  hand,  attrac- 
tions, charms,  allurements  and  enchantments,  hopes, 
aspirations,  longings,  ambitions,  determinations;  on 
the  other,  we  have  fear,  dread,  apprehension,  abhor- 
rence, envy,  rivalry,  jealousj',  anger,  fur)^,  sorrow, 
repentance,  shame  and  remorse  as  the  expressions  of 
the  unattained,  misdirected  or  irretrievably  lost.  Even 
satiety,  surfeit,  tedium,  enmd,  become  intolerable  de- 
mands for  the  exercise  of  our  moral,  physical  or  psy- 
chical functions. 

The  universal  struggle  is  for  happiness,  which  in 


*  See  Ward,  "  The  Pbychic  Factors  of  Civilizatiou,"  p.  72. 


g6  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

the  popular  sense  means  the  enjoyment  of  the  pleas- 
ures afforded  by  the  satisfaction  of  social,  aesthetic, 
moral  and  intellectual  desires  and  tastes.  If  men 
could  be  made  to  see  in  which  direction  happiness  lies, 
that  soul  force,  the  connate  impulse  of  desire,  will 
urge  them  toward  it,  and  the  preacher  will  be  saved  a 
vast  amount  of  superfluous  pleading. 

XV.  In  popular  speech  the  "heart"  is  spoken 
of  as  the  seat  of  the  emotions,  desires  and  will.  This 
may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  physical  heart  is  the 
seat  of  the  Sympathetic  nerve  plexus,  and  also  the 
force  pump  of  the  life  current  and  the  seat  of  vital 
power.  It  is  appropriate,  therefore,  to  speak  of  win- 
ning over  the  heart  to  the  side  of  God;  that  is,  to 
create  desires  after  God;  that  is,  to  lead  men's  will  to 
choose  God  because  believing  that  happiness  is  to  be 
found  in  Him. 

XVI.  Finally,  a  firm  belief  in  His  power  to  do  is 
a  condition  of  a  man's  willing.  A  man  fettered  by 
poverty  and  toil  may  read  of  the  dehghts  of  foreign 
travel  and  wish  to  enjoy  it,  but  he  cannot  zvill  to  do  so 
while  conscious  of  his  inability.  The  doctrine  of  the 
"  Moral  inability  of  the  unregenerate, "  as  held  by  the 
Calvinists  of  a  former  generation,  was  naturally 
paralyzing.  The  hearer's  consciousness  was  always 
against  it,  and  he  must  secretly  repudiate  it  ere  he 
could  exercise  his  will  in  choosing  Christ.  It  is  an 
undeniable  fact  that  we  are  conscious  of  a  free  will; 
hence  fatalism  is  ruled  out.  Only  the  man  who  knows 
that  he  is  free  is  capable  of  being  constrained.  '  *  Free- 
dom and  constraint  are  reciprocal  ideas. ' ' 


THE  PvSYCHOI.OGY   OF    KMOTION  AND  WILL.  97 

Hence,  while  the  preacher's  hope  of  influencing 
the  will  is  ultimately  based  upon  the  operations  of  that 
Spirit  who  is  said  to  ' '  make  one  willing  in  the  day  of 
his  power,"  he  is  never  to  forget  that  such  divine 
power  operates  along  the  lines  of  our  human  endeavor 
and  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  soul  itself, 
which  is  never  ruled  by  phj^sical  force.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  such  objects,  such  motives, 
should  be  presented  as  are  best  adapted  to  lead  to  a 
choice,  and  that  they  should  be  presented  in  the  most 
vivid,  comprehensible  and  striking  manner  possible; 
nay,  that  the)^  should  be  re-enforced,  wave  on  wave, 
motive  propelling  motive,  only  avoiding  that  excess 
which  is  weakening. 

Choice  is  the  pre-eminently  important  and  central 
factor  belonging  to  the  will;  it  is  the  culminant  and 
decisive  act  of  the  interior  life.  By  it  the  soul  asserts 
its  sovereignty  over  the  conduct.  We  must  convince 
men  of  the  dignity,  solemnity  and  responsibility  of 
this  eminently  personal  act  of  free  choice.  To  secure 
the  action  of  the  will  being  of  such  importance,  the 
preacher  must  not  fail  to  lead  zip  to  it.  His  peroration 
or  final  appeal  is  in  some  respects  the  most  important 
part  of  his  effort.  Let  him  not  stop  short  of  it,  nor 
let  him  spend  so  much  time  on  other  portions  that  he 
must  close  in  a  hurried  and  weak  way.  Some  preach- 
ers habitually  apologize  for  their  undue  length,  and 
think  to  propitiate  their  hearers  by  omitting  the 
"application."  This  is  both  psychologically  and, 
rhetorically  a  serious  fault.  In  an  intelligent  congre- 
^;ation  it  will  be  found  that  on  many  subjects  which 


98  PSYCHIC  POWKR  IN  PREACHING. 

the  preacher  is  called  to  present  the  people  are  familiar 
with  the  argument  and  motives,  and  they  are  pleased 
when  the  preacher  treats  them  as  in  that  condition. 
His  chief  work  will  then  be  to  awaken  their  memories, 
to  illustrate  confessed  truths  by  fresh  and  objective 
stimulants  to  the  imagination  and  affection,  vitalize 
lesire,  give  spur  to  impulse  and  make  the  focal  point 
of  the  will  the  chief  attack  of  the  sermon — "If  ye 
know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them." 
' '  He  that  knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not,  to 
him  it  is  sin."  "  Behold,  I  have  set  before  you  life 
and  death,  therefore  choose  life!"  We  must  carry 
the  citadel  of  the  will,  or  the  ojoportunity  is  lost. 

A  single  shock  may  be  sufficient,  when  a  chemi- 
cal liquid  is  saturated  with  some  salt,  to  precipitate  it 
at  once  into  crystals;  and  he  is  a  wise  preacher  who, 
watching  his  audience,  discovers  the  moment  when  a 
brave,  authoritative,  confident  challenge  to  immediate 
decision  is  all  that  is  needed  to  crystallize  conviction 
into  conduct,  impulse  into  immortal  action. 


The  Sermon  in  Action 


CHAPTER   VII 


The  Sermon  in  Action 


WHEN  Saurin,  the  eminent  French  Protestant, 
was  preaching  at  The  Hague,  and  places  in 
his  church  engaged  a  fortnight  ahead  by 
the  first  people  of  the  city,  men  even  climbing  on 
ladders  to  get  a  sight  of  him  through  the  windows, 
the  celebrated  scholar,  Le  Clerc,  for  a  time  refused  to 
hear  him,  declaring  that  oratory  was  below  the  dignity 
of  the  Christian  pulpit  and  that  he  ' '  distrusted  effects 
wrought  more  by  a  vain  eloquence  than  by  the  force 
of  logic. ' '  One  day  he  yielded,  and  went  on  condition 
that  he  should  sit  behind  the  pulpit  screen  so  as  not  to 
see  the  preacher's  delivery.  Before  the  sermon  closed 
he  found  himself  in  front  of  the  preacher,  listening 
with  rapt  expression,  unconscious  of  the  tears  that 
trickled  down  his  quivering  face. 

The  incident  is  but  one  of  the  many  historical 
illustrations  of  the  fascinating  conquests  of  the  sermon 
in  eloquent  action. 

The  sermon  is  like  the  tent  which  the  fairy  gave 
to  Prince  Ahmed,  which,  when  folded,  seemed  like  a 
fan  for  a  lady's  hand;  but  spread  it,  and  the  armies  of 
powerful  Sultans  might  gather  beneath  its  shade. 
The  preacher's  composition  alone  is  like  a  folded  tent; 
a  right  delivery  gives  life  and  expansion  to  his  every 
thought,  propulsion  and   impregnation  to  his  whole 

99 


lOO  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

mental  and  literary  work.  How  can  we  over-estimate 
the  vital  importance  to  the  preacher,  to  the  hearer  of 
that  half  hour  in  which  the  work  of  days  (we  might 
almost  say  of  years)  is  to  be  focussed  upon  the  con- 
gregation ! 

The  sermon  in  action.  The  place  is  a  "  valley  of 
decision;"  the  hour,  a  time  of  supreme  effort,  on 
which  the  history  and  destiny  of  many  souls  may 
hang.  It  is  not  a  review  of  platoons  of  ideas,  gar- 
nished and  drilled  in  the  study,  but  a  real  struggle  on 
the  part  of  the  preacher  to  conquer  his  hearers  and 
win  them  over  to  the  truth  for  which  he  pleads,  and  to 
the  life  of  the  Spirit.  The  message  which  he  utters 
is  freighted  with  the  very  excellence  of  saving  truth, 
and  carries  in  it  the  supreme  effort  of  Divinity  in 
man's  behalf,  and  in  its  success  or  failure  all  heaven 
is  interested.  The  preacher  in  the  pulpit  occupies  the 
supreme  strategic  point  in  the  moral  universe.  This 
fact  ought  to  stimulate  his  energies  to  their  highest 
effort.  No  wonder  the  lion-hearted  I,uther  trembled 
as  he  ascended  the  pulpit  steps  ! 
^  When  Demosthenes  answered  that  ' '  action  ' '  was 

the  first,  the  second,  the  third  quality  in  the  orator, 
his  dictum  seemed  exaggerated.  I^ord  Bacon  is  sur- 
prised. "A  strange  thing,"  he  sa)^s,  "  that  that  part 
of  an  orator  which  is  but  superficial,  and  rather  the 
virtue  of  a  player,  should  be  placed  above  those  nobler 
parts  of  invention,  elocution  and  the  rest,  nay,  almost 
alone,  as  if  it  were  all  in  all !  "  But  he  evidently  took 
the  word  in  a  much  narrower  sense  than  the  Greek 
orator  intended;  he  meant  it  to  cover  the  substance  of 


The  sermon  in  action.  ioi 

the  thought  as  well  as  the  manner  of  its  utterance. 
The  same  misconception  has  led  others  to  substitute 
"energy"  as  the  correct  translation.  But  Demos- 
thenes was  supported  by  Cicero  and  Quintilian  in 
giving  "action"  the  foremost  place  in  oratory,  and 
they  are  justified,  if  we  regard  the  word  as  including 
all  that  is  legitimately  expressed  thereby  as  the  uni- 
versal movement  of  all  the  psychical  and  physical 
powers,  to  achieve  the  end  the  speaker  has  in  view. 
An  intelligent,  harmonious  and  sustained  action  is  not 
only  the  prime  essential  in  preaching,  if  it  is  to  produce 
something  more  than  a  still-born  assent;  it  is  also 
according  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  not  artificial.  It 
is,  therefore,  capable  of  being  studied  as  a  science, 
cultivated  as  a  fine  art,  developed  in  all  its  parts  and 
applied  with  as  much  certainty  as  can  electricity, 
gravitation  or  heat.  The  laws  which  govern  it  are 
not  less  exact  than  those  which  control  other  natural 
forces. 

Very  much  that  is  germane  to  this  subject  I  shall 
leave  to  the  professional  teachers  of  elocution  and 
delivery,  confining  m3^self  to  principles. 

I.  All  true  action  in  the  pulpit  must  first  proceed 
from  the  soul.  In  other  words,  it  has  a  psychic  base 
and  spring.  If  the  man's  soul  is  in  a  healthy  and 
vigorous  state,  inspired  by  his  theme,  his  thought  will 
swim  to  the  surface  and  reflect  itself  in  his  ph)^sical 
features  and  organs.  By  a  subtle  psychological  law 
the  whole  nervous  and  muscular  system  responds  to 
the  sympathetic  impulses  of  the  emotions  and  will; 
feeling  and  purpose  mysteriously  and  spontaneously 


102  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

press  at  everj^  gate  of  the  ej^es,  the  Hps,  the  cheeks, 
the  hands,  the  feet,  for  expression.  The  preacher's 
heart,  swelling  with  inspired,  energetic  conviction  and 
emotion,  lifts  itself  up  like  a  great  tidal  wave,  over- 
flows its  banks  and  pours  itself  forth  in  expressions  of 
the  features,  glances  of  the  eyes,  quivering  of  the 
mouth,  tones  of  the  voice  and  movements  of  the  limbs, 
so  that  the  phj'sical  structure  becomes  simply  the 
complex  and  delicate  organ  of  expression  for  the 
brain,  and  heart,  and  will. 

And  this  distinguishes  pulpit  action  from  stage 
acting.  The  former  is  in  a  large  degree  spontaneous 
and  natural;  the  latter  is  mainly  the  result  of  study, 
art  and  imitation.  The  prejudice  against  what  is 
called  ' '  theatrical ' '  preaching  is  due  to  the  attempt  to 
copy  the  arts  of  the  actor  instead  of  gaining  the  full- 
ness of  life  and  its  natural  utterance.  Art  is  by  no 
means  to  be  despised;  it  has  an  important  place  in  the 
correction  of  faults  and  the  development  of  grace  and 
impressiveness;  but  while  it  may  guide  and  rectify  the 
forces  of  nature,  when  through  bad  examples  they 
have  become  cramped  or  distorted,  it  must  always  be 
subordinate. 

A  sympathetic  and  yearning  heart  must  give  to 
action  its  finest  intelligence,  beauty  and  radiating 
warmth.  Not  only  must  the  preacher  dip  his  pen  in 
his  heart  when  he  writes  his  sermon,  but  he  must  let 
his  heart  pulsate  through  the  delivery  of  it.  When 
one  puts  a  conch-shell  to  his  ear  he  seems  to  hear  the 
echoes  of  the  sounding  sea  on  whose  shores  it  had  been 
cast  up;  but  science  tells  him  that  what  he  hears  is 


THE  vSElvI\10N  IN  ACTION.  I03 

the  booming  of  the  red  sea  of  his  own  heart,  rushing 
through  arterial  channels  and,  from  his  living  hand, 
filling  the  convolutions  of  the  shell  with  its  mysterious 
whispers.  The  same  shell  in  a  dead  hand  would  have 
no  voice.  The  Word  of  God  is  such  a  shell,  brought 
from  the  eternal  shore  and  held  in  the  preacher's  hand. 
A  living  heart  must  pour  its  thrills  of  passion  and 
surges  of  pathos  and  waves  of  inspired  emotion  through 
it,  or  its  convolutions  will  yield  no  language  the  inner 
ear  can  appreciate. 

When  the  preacher  is  not  satisfied  merely  to  have  \ 
his  discourse  in  "black  and  white,"  nor  even  in  his 
niemorj',  like  a  recitation,  but  when,  above  all,  he 
carries  it  in  his  soul,  if  his  soul  dilates  with  it,  travails 
with  it,  then  he  is  sure  to  deliver  it  with  an  ' '  action  ' ' 
that  shall  have  at  least  the  qualities  of  naturalness  and 
7'cality,  which  are  essentials  of  success. 

Without  this,  all  the  rules  of  the  elocutionist 
regarding  gesture  and  voice  will  avail  little.  Even  in 
dramatic  training  the  first  canon  of  instruction  for  the 
actor  is  to  so  incorporate  himself  with  the  character 
he  represents  and  the  scenes  he  depicts  as  to  catch  the 
mysterious,  but  essential,  inspiration  of  reality.  And 
the  triumph  of  his  art  is  in  so  acting  as  to  make  his 
audience  forget  that  it  is  all  a  spectacle  and  to  sway 
their  passions  as  by  a  real  tragedy. 

The  triumph  of  the  preacher  is  reached  when  the 
infinitely  solemn  and  glorious  realities  which  he  feels 
shall  express  themselves  with  full  weight  of  demon- 
stration b)'-  every  physical  organ,  as  well  as  by  everj^ 
mental  and  moral  faculty.     A  man  maj-  have  command 


I04  PSYCHIC   POWRR    IN    PREACHING, 

of  his  sermon,  and  j^et,  like  the  late  Dean  Stanley  and 
some  other  able  preachers,  stand  like  a  speaking  statue; 
but  if  his  sermon  has  command  of  him,  he  cannot  fail 
to  wield  a  weightier  weapon,  because  he  is  electrified 
into  appropriate  and  eloquent  movement,  so  that  the 
whole  man  becomes  a  visible,  and  audible,  and  living 
sermon. 

The  overflow  of  thought-illumined  nervous  vital- 
ity reveals  its  presence  and  quality  primarily  in  the 
highly  susceptible  ner\^es  and  muscles  of  the  face,  since 
they  belong  to  the  vaso-motor  system  which  acts  auto- 
matically and  largely  unconsciously.  The  will  has 
but  little  power  to  veil  the  emotions  that  surge  in  the 
soul,  and  they  betray  themselves  in  the  countenance. 
"  Nothing  speaks  like  the  countenance,"  says  Fenelon 
(^Rien  ne parle  tant  que  le  visage).  What,  in  fact,  is 
the  "countenance"  but  tlie  secret  soul  and  habit  of 
thought  and  feeling  revealing  itself  in  the  features. 
Words  can  only  gradually  unfold  our  meaning,  but  the 
countenance  gives  expression  to  the  speaker's  feeling 
before  he  utters  a  word.  Vividness  and  intensity  of 
expression  usually  depend  upon  the  liveliness  of  the 
inward  passion  or  thought.  It  is  not,  however,  alto- 
gether involuntary;  it  may  be  somewhat  controlled  by 
the  will,  and  may  also  be  cultivated  by  study  and 
practice. 
\  The  eye  is,  among  the  silent  factors  of  pulpit  action, 
a  wonderful  instrument  of  psychic  expression,  and  too 
little  appreciated  by  the  preacher.  It  can  flash  like 
lightning  and  beam  with  love,  invite  with  sympathy, 
wither  with  scorn,  burn  with  indignation,  subdue  with 


THE  SERMON  IN  ACTION.  I05 

a  Steadfast,  penetrating  look  that  seems  to  read  the 
heart.  Mirabeau  quelled  the  ferocity  of  the  French 
Assembly  with  his  lion  eye,  while  that  of  a  Napoleon 
or  Webster  was  a  gateway,  out  of  which  marched 
conquest. 

The  preacher  who  has  not  learned  to  look  his 
hearers  full}-  in  the  face,  individually  and  collectively; 
who  has  not  acquired  that  ' '  visional  grasp ' '  which 
fixes  attention,  and  at  the  same  time  gives  him  a  com- 
manding survey  of  his  field  of  battle,  loses  an  element 
of  power  inestimable.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of 
this  subtile,  electrical  influence. 

Standing  in  momentary  pause  and  contemplation 
of  his  audience,  before  a  word  is  spoken,  calm,  earnest, 
genial,  commanding,  the  preacher  can  sweep,  as  with 
a  mild  and  awakening  searchlight,  his  congregation 
till  every  eye  is  fixed  upon  him  and  they  feel  the 
luminous  thrill  of  his  individualizing,  yet  all-compre- 
hensive, gaze.  And  then  having  become  en  rapport 
with  every  man,  lie  pours  forth  from  that  same  fountain 
of  impressions  scintillations  that  interpret,  invite,  con- 
vince, persuade,  appeal,  and  whole  volumes  of  tender- 
ness, enthusiasm,  good  cheer,  trustfulness  and  expec- 
tation may  be  read  in  his  frank,  kindly,  unfaltering 
eyes  !  How  much  is  gained  by  the  penetrating,  soulful 
gaze  at  the  asking  of  a  question  or  the  launching  of  a 
truth!  How  much  is  lost  when  the  e^^e  is  tethered  to 
a  manuscript  or  wanders  helpless  to  the  ceiling  or  out 
of  the  window ! 

^         Another  of  the  silent  factors  is  the  month.    While 
the  eye  is  perhaps  the  most  expressive  feature,  the 


Io6  PSYCHIC    FO^YER    IN    PREACHING. 

mouth  is  the  most  sympathetic.  Here,  as  in  a  nest, 
gather  a  brood  of  emotions;  the  tenderness  of  love,  the 
quivering  of  pain,  the  curl  of  contempt,  the  firmness 
of  purpose,  the  smile  of  pleasure.  Says  Lavater: 
' '  The  mouth  is  the  interpreter  and  organ  of  the  mind 
and  heart.  In  repose,  as  well  as  in  the  infinite  variety 
of  its  movements,  it  unites  a  world  of  characters.  It 
is  eloquent  even  in  its  silence;  it  speaks,  and  will  still 
speak  when  it  can  never  open  again."  A  well-formed 
mouth,  f^enerous  in  size,  mobile,  quick  and  sensitive 
to  the  movements  of  the  inner  thought,  is  a  bow  that 
abides  in  strength.  Its  conspicuous  beauty  and  moral 
importance  impressed  the  philosophic  Herder,  who 
says:  "It  is  from  the  mouth  the  voice  issues;  inter- 
preter of  the  heart  and  of  the  soul,  expression  of  feel- 
ing, of  friendship  and  of  the  purest  enthusiasm.  The 
upper  lip  translates  the  inclination,  the  appetites,  the 
disquietudes  of  love;  pride  and  passion  contract  it, 
cunning  attenuates  it,  goodness  of  heart  reflects  it  and 
the  passions  incarnate  themselves  there  with  an  inex- 
pressible charm." 

According  to  Delsart,  the  mouth  has  more  than 
2,000  phases  of  expression.  Of  course,  the  mobilit}^ 
of  the  mouth,  as  well  as  the  versatility  of  the  eye, 
varies  with  temperaments,  with  the  acuteness  of  nerve 
action,  the  keenness  of  susceptibilities,  but  it  is  largely 
trained  by  habit  and  education.  Its  habitual  expres- 
sion reveals  the  constant  action  of  the  inner  life.  The 
lips,  like  Wordsworth's  mountains,  look  familiar  with 
forgotten  years,  curved  and  channeled  with  memorials 
of  a  thousand  impulses. 


THE  SKRMON  IN  ACTION.  I07 

Another  silent  factor  of  psychic  action  is  gesture. 
By  the  varied  and  vivid  movements  of  the  hands  and 
the  Hmbs  thought  may  be  vividly  portrayed  without 
the  utterance  of  a  sound.  Indeed,  there  are  few 
moral  or  physical  emotions  that  pantomime  cannot 
express.  The  stud}^  of  pantomime  is  almost  entirely 
overlooked  by  the  preacher,  as  though  it  were  lacking 
in  dignity  and  only  fitted  for  comedy,  whereas  it  is 
Nature's  first  and  most  vivid  interpreter  of  thought 
and  feeling.  The  hands  are  uplifted  in  prayer  or 
appeal,  outstretched  variously  in  pleading,  inviting, 
protesting,  repelling,  blessing,  bestowing,  welcoming; 
they  are  clasped  in  entreaty,  wrung  in  anguish,  joined 
in  fellowship. 

The  student  of  action  might  profitably  exercise 
himself  in  his  study  by  trying  how  large  a  part  of  his 
discourse  he  could  express  by  the  language  of  panto- 
mime alone.  It  is  lamentable  to  see  how  generally  a 
constrained  and  awkward  action,  resulting  from  bad 
education,  fear,  or  the  bondage  of  the  manuscript,  or 
mere  neglect,  prevails  in  our  pulpits.  How  many  men 
of  taste  revolting  from  "theatrical,"  "sensational," 
' '  demonstrative ' '  preaching  run  into  the  opposite 
extreme  of  tameness,  monotony  and  reserve! 

Some  men  dread  to  look  the  people  in  the  eyes; 
others,  transfixed  in  clerical  propriety  behind  the  desk, 
fear  to  stride  forth  like  men  to  meet  their  hearers,  lest 
they  seem  undignified.  And  while  some,  anxious  to 
be  "eloquent,"  whirl  their  arms  in  the  affrighted  air, 
like  the  tattered  effigy  in  the  cornfield,  others  still — 
wedding  paralysis  to  piety — stand,  like  Lazarus,  just 


Io8  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PRHACHING. 

risen  from  the  tomb,  bandaged  in  every  limb,  for 
whom  we  feel  like  praying,  "  I,oose  him,  and  let  him 
preach  ! ' '  How  few  there  are  who  learn  to  tread  the 
pulpit  platform  with  confidence! 

The  eloquence  of  the  body,  the  impression  of 
pose,  gesture,  facial  expression  and  every  muscular 
movement  are,  however,  all  but  humble  allies  and 
servitors  of  that  regal  power — the  voice. 

It  is  in  the  pulpit  that  the  crowned  and  sceptred 
voice  is  enthroned;  it  is  here  it  performs  its  sublimest 
function.  We  marvel  when  we  think  hov/  God  has 
made  it  (not  the  pen)  the  chief  implement  of  man's 
recovery  to  his  allegiance.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  silent  might  of  the  printed  word,  it  is  and  ever 
must  be  the  incarnate  word,  welling  fresh  from  a 
human  soul,  that  commands  the  world's  attention, 
sways  the  heart  and  will  and  decides  destiny.  For  so 
has  God  stored  up  in  the  human  voice  a  strange, 
divine  magic  that  it  reaches  depths,  awakens  responses, 
electrifies  the  will  and  persuades  to  action  in  a  way 
unknown  to  written  language. 

"  The  true  preacher,"  says  Dr.  Joseph  Parker,  of 
London,  "  has  nothing  to  fear  from  rivalry,  for  the 
human  voice  has  no  adequate  substitute.  The  heart 
will  not  disdain  any  instrument  of  expression,  but  the 
instrument  which  it  loves  with  all  its  love  is  the  human 
voice — all  instruments  in  one  and  all  inspired.  To 
some,  indeed,  all  voices  are  alike;  but  so  are  all  colors, 
all  lights,  all  landscapes;  their  spirituality  is  at  zero, 
and  what  life  they  have  is  mainly  in  their  blood. 
What  if  the  vocal  powers  be  in  reality  spiritual  rather 


THE  SERMON  IN  ACTION.  I09 

than  physical?  That  they  are  capable  of  intense 
spiritual  excitement  is  evident  both  in  music  and 
speech,  and  none  will  deny  that  a  tone  will  convey  a 
meaning  which  can  never  be  properly  expressed  by 
symbols. ' ' 

In  all  history  God  has  put  highest  honor  and  re- 
sponsibility upon  the  voice.  And  no  wonder,  when  we 
consider  the  vastness  and  variet}'  of  its  powers!  There 
is  no  musical  mechanism,  from  shepherd's  pipe  to 
orchestral  organ,  that  has  such  power  to  charm,  to 
soothe,  to  thrill,  to  awe,  to  melt  to  tears,  or  rouse  to 
wrath,  or  wake  to  love.  Now  it  is  a  battle  trump, 
and  now  a  harp  of  praise;  it  can  thunder  as  on  Sinai 
and  drop  as  the  dew  on  Hermon.  There  is  no  senti- 
ment or  passion  of  the  soul  which  it  cannot  arouse  and 
express.  There  is  no  ear  so  dull  but  it  has  some  tone 
to  pierce  it,  and  no  truth  in  all  the  range  of  revelation 
that  is  not  dependent  upon  it  for  perfect  interpre- 
tation. 

Why,  then,  does  not  the  preacher  use  his  voice  as 
not  abusing  it  ?  Why  does  he  not  see  that,  like  the 
incarnate  Word,  it  should  be  "full  of  grace  and 
truth  ? ' '  And  yet,  through  neglect  of  study  and 
training,  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  celestial  music  of 
the  Gospel  gets  about  as  much  interpretation  from  the 
average  preacher  as  one  of  Beethoven's  sonatas  would 
if  rendered  by  a  village  brass  band.  If  the  dead 
strings  of  a  violin  can  be  made  to  wake  to  rapturous 
sweetness  under  the  skilled  hand  of  a  Paganini,  what 
may  not  the  painstaking  student  of  oratory  evoke 
from  these  vibrating,  living  cords  in  the  throat,  which 


no  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

the  fingers  of  God  have  fashioned  in  order  that  His 
breath  may  become  vocal ! 

These  being  the  materials  of  pulpit  action,  the 
preacher  will  habitually  drill  and  discipline  his  forces 
to  their  highest  efi&ciency. 
s.  First. — The  animal  or  physical  basis  must  be  built 
up  and  brought  into  its  best  condition.  If  a  preacher 
presents  a  vigorous  and  imposing  presence,  like  a 
Chalmers,  or  Guthrie,  or  Phillips  Brooks,  he  has  a 
great  natural  advantage;  but  men  of  less  impressive 
physique  may  make  up  in  healthy  intensity  what  they 
lack  in  stature,  breadth  and  muscle.  Instances  will 
occur  in  all  spheres  of  leadership  where  men  have 
radiated  psychic  power  from  a  very  limited  amount  of 
the  "  mortal  coil,"  who  were  second  to  none  in  swa)'- 
ing  an  audience  or  winning  a  battle,  tho'  they  would 
hardly  pose  as  a  model  for  Hercules  or  Jupiter  Tonans. 

At  the  same  time,  physical  vigor,  girded  loins  and 
steady  nerves,  a  freedom  from  debility  and  a  fullness  of 
health,  erectness  of  carriage  and  decision  in  move- 
ment, a  fearless  and  commanding  poise,  may  be  attained 
in  all  ordinary  cases.  It  is  certain  that  the  rapid, 
robust  and  effective  working  of  the  brain,  the  creative 
imagination,  passion  and  will  depends  greatly  on  vital 
and  vigorous  physical  conditions. 

There  is,  indeed,  an  excitability  of  the  emotions, 
the  fancy  and  the  other  powers  in  a  state  of  disease 
and  nervous  irritability,  but  it  is  spasmodic,  hysterical 
and  without  carrying  power.  It  does  not  awaken  and 
propagate  itself  in  the  hearer  if  he  is  in  a  healthy 
state.     An  abundant  and  sustained  physical  vigor  and 


THE  SERMON  IN  ACTION.  Ill 

elastic  spring  must  be  maintained;  for  without  it  the 
will  is  variant,  and  energy  of  every  sort,  timi.d  and 
vacillating,  working  capriciously;  it  is  the  steadfast 
and  elastic  impact  of  the  soul  alone  that  moves  the 
hearer  to  the  point  of  action. 

Hence  the  culture  and  care  of  the  physical  instru- 
ment of  psychic  power  should  be  a  part  of  the  preach- 
er's education  as  much,  surely,  as  the  study  of  Hebrew 
or  Hermeneutics,  and  his  vows  of  ordination  should 
bind  him  as  much  to  communion  with  nature  abroad 
as  with  God  in  secret;  while  a  dyspeptic  stomach,  a 
limp  manner  and  a  whining  voice  in  the  pulpit  should 
be  reprobated  as  much  as  a  weak  argument  or  an 
effeminate  theology. 

He  is  bound  to  confront  his  audience  in  as  perfect 
a  physical  condition  as  an  electric  dynamo.  He 
should  stand  there  as  an  incarnate  galvanic  batter}^, 
stored  not  only  with  spiritual  fervor,  but  with  earthly 
vitality.  Burning  the  midnight  oil  is  a  psychic  heresj', 
and  coming  to  the  pulpit  with  brain  surcharged  with 
blood,  nerves  all  a-quiver,  vitality  exhausted,  counte- 
nance ' '  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  ' ' — sleepless- 
ness, and  quite  unfit  to  give  masculine  propulsion  to 
his  sermon,  is  unfaithfulness  to  his  high  calling. 
N,  Second. — Freedom  and  integrity  of  soul  must  also 

be  cultivated.  There  is  a  "  bondage  of  the  pulpit. " 
Some  men  are  fettered  by  doubt,  even  of  their  own 
standing  before  God;  others  are  in  bondage  to  the 
criticism  of  their  hearers;  a  morbid  diffidence  enfeebles 
some;  hast)'  and  imperfect  preparation,  fear  of  failure 
or  want  of  sympati.'v  vitli  their  theme,  or  a  chilling 
sense  of  unreality  causes  thu  heart  to  sag;  they  cannot 


112  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN   PREACHING. 

bear  to  look  themselves  in  the  face  as  heralds  of  God. 
All  this  is  weakening,  and  must  by  all  means  be 
conquered. 

A  preacher' s  sojcl  also  7nust  be  freed  from  co7iven- 
tionalisms  in  matter  and  inan7icr.  Imitation  is  debili- 
tating; he  must  not  even  imitate  himself,  much  less 
his  seminary  professor  or  the  man  who  draws  the 
crowd,  for  he  will  be  sure  to  lose  tone  and  facility. 
He  must  break  the  forms  of  scholastic  thinking  and 
speaking  acquired  in  the  schools  and  be  free  to  think 
and  speak  along  the  simple  human  ways  of  the  people. 
He  must  implicate  himself  in  the  folds  of  their  thought 
and  affection.  He  must  annihilate  the  distance  be- 
tween the  pulpit  and  the  pew  and  stoop  to  conquer. 
He  must  acquire  the  habit  of  being  master  of  the 
situation,  feeling  at  home  in  the  pulpit  and  knowing 
just  what  he  and  his  sermon  are  about;  and  his  frank 
and  genial  manliness  of  bearing  will  prove  magnetic 
of  itself. 

Third. — Earnestness  of  aim  is  also  essential  to 
effective  action.  If  a  man  shows  no  moral  earnestness, 
his  action  will  be  sure  to  betray  him,  his  freedom  will 
appear  careless  and  his  energy  seem  artificial. 

If  he  makes  the  occasion  a  dress-parade  rather 
than  a  battle,  if  he  is  more  intent  on  displaying  the 
jewels  in  his  sword-hilt  and  the  gracefulness  of  liis 
fencing  than  in  cleaving  shields  and  dividing  men 
from  their  sins,  his  action  will  be  void  of  dignity  and 
his  audience  will  be  quick  to  discover  it.  He  has  his 
reward.  Some  simpering  sister  may  tell  him  that  the 
sermon  was  "  beautiful,"  he  may  hear  others  whisper- 
ing, "Elegant,"   "Fine,"  and  he  strays  home  with 


THE  SERMON  IN  ACTION.  II 3 

his  head  among  tlie  stars.     But  alas  !  what  playing  at 
preaching  is  that ! 

Physical,  intellectual  and  moral  earnestness — 
all  must  combine  in  psychic  force.  There  is  a  mere 
enthusiasm  over  syllogisms,  a  heat  of  argument,  a 
mental  excitement,  such  as  led  the  old  philosopher  to 
rush  into  the  street,  e^i  deshabille,  crying:  "  Eureka  !  " 
And  there  are  preachers  as  enthusiastic  over  their  own 
brain  babies  as  that,  and  they  think  they  are  in 
"  earnest."  I  have  heard  them  as  they  clenched  their 
fists  at  their  imaginary  antagonists,  got  red  in  the 
face  and  strained  their  utterance  to  the  verge  of  apo- 
plexy in  demonstration  of  a  thesis  of  which  their 
stunned  hearers  were  mentally  asking:  "  Well,  what 
of  it?" 

But  there  is  a  soul  earnestness,  as  of  mariners 
pulling  the  life-boat;  as  of  a  father  pleading  with  a 
wayward  son;  as  of  a  Moses  in  the  gate  of  the  camp, 
and  an  Elijah  on  Carmel — a  thing  of  life  and  power. 
Whitefield  was  carried  to  conquest,  in  preaching,  on 
the  torrent  of  such  victorious  earnestness;  his  soul 
panting  to  get  the  truth  lodged  in  the  heart,  his 
imagination  on  fire,  putting  the  torch  to  theirs,  and 
his  well-trained  dramatic  action  and  voice,  like  a 
grand  organ  that  thrilled  with  its  vox  hiimana,  plead 
with  its  viola,  roused  with  its  trumpet  notes  and  over- 
whelmed with  its  full  diapason,  so  that  women  would 
weep  convulsively  and  men  cry  out  with  fear  or  jo)'. 

Fourth. — Again,  a  serene  and  courageous  will  is 
a  factor  in  psychic  action.  "The  will,"  says  Van 
Helmont,  ' '  is  the  first  of  all  the  powers  and  the 
property  most  dear  to  all  spiritual  beings,  and  displays 


114  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

itself  in  them  more  activel}^  the  more  they  are  freed 
from  matter."  And  Paracelsus,  "The  Divine,"  as 
he  was  called,  adds  in  the  same  strain:  "  Faith  must 
confirm  the  imagination,  for  faith  establishes  the  will. ' ' 
Magician  that  he  was,  he  may  teach  us  a  truth  in  the 
dictum  that  ' '  determined  wjll  is  the  beginning  of  all 
magical  operations." 

Though  men  are  born  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  "  not  by  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God,"  yet  the 
divine  Will  finds  its  only  adequate  human  channel  in 
the  will  of  man.  Hence  a  limp  and  languid  will  in 
the  pulpit  makes  th.e  preacher  an  ineffective  instru- 
ment. The  d5'namic  energy  of  a  victorious,  faith- 
inspired  will  must  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  vague 
and  vagrant  spirit  of  the  hearer.  That  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  psychic  power.  A  free  and  persistent  will — 
free  because  disciplined  by  wisdom  and  guided  by  law; 
energetic  because  a  sane  and  benevolent  purpose 
nerves  it — is,  above  all  things,  the  conquering  and 
building  force  in  the  effective  speaker. 

It  was  the  difference  in  will  power  that  made 
Chatham,  with  all  his  defects,  a  success,  and  Burke, 
with  all  his  excellencies,  a  failure  in  the  British  Par- 
liament. It  is  due  to  this,  also,  that  an  uncultured 
evangelist  will  bring  men  to  a  decision  for  Christ,  who 
liave  long  listened  with  pleased  immobility  to  the 
superior  discourses  of  their  pastor. 

It  is  the  quickened  passion  that  changes  the  ser- 
mon from  a  camp  into  a  march,  and  it  is  the  aroused 
will  that  transforms  that  march  into  a  victorious 
charge.  Without  the  will  power  a  sermon  may  be  an 
aesthetic  treat;  with  it,  it  becomes  a  moral  triumph. 


Sympathy  an  Element  of  Psychic  Force 


CHAPTER    VHI 


Sympathy  an  Element  of  Psychic  Force 


'^r^HERE  is  a  sympathetic  insight  of  human  hearts 
I  that  enters  largely  into  pulpit  power — a  subtile 
inspiration,  wherein  dwells  the  soul  of  preach- 
ing, and  which  must  per\'ade  its  faculty  and  form,  even 
as  the  living  spirit  of  a  man  pervades  organ  and 
structure. 

Mere  theology  has  little  interest  for  the  masses  of 
men,  and  sermons  on  dogma  and  ritual  weary  the 
empty  pews  to  which  they  are  addressed;  but  man  is 
ever  an  object  of  profound  interest  to  himself,  and  was 
never  more  seriously  studied  by  himself  than  in  this 
da}',  when  the  minds  of  the  people  and  the  discussions 
of  the  press  teem  with  earnest,  eager  questions  that 
affect  his  nature,  condition,  social  franchise,  political 
status  and  all  that  concerns  his  development  and  des- 
tiny, but  all,  of  course,  limited  to  this  material  and 
present  world. 

The  drift  of  popular  philosophy  toward  despair  of 
the  future  and  the  abandonment  of  the  goal  of  per- 
sonal immortality  leaves  man  the  subject  of  a  life 
wdthout  an  aim  and  a  heart  without  inspiration.  Be- 
neath its  bubbling  frivolities  the  spirit  of  this  genera- 
tion is  sad  ;  the  purple  robe  of  material  prosperities 
and  the  abundant  viands  which  load  its  table  mock  an 
orphaned  and  empty  soul. 

115 


Il6  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PRKACHING. 

It  is  the  concern  of  the  preacher  to  feed  this  fam- 
ished flock,  leading  it  awaj^  from  gilded  husks  and 
sand-choked  wells  into  God's  green  pastures  and  by 
His  waters  of  rest.  It  is  not  metaphysics  that  men 
want,  but  bread;  not  the  revel  of  imagination,  but  the 
river  of  life,  and  an  ounce  of  cr^-stallized  sympathy 
will  have  more  weight  with  them  than  a  ton  of  the- 
ories and  speculations. 

Therefore,  to  have  power  with  men  we  must  have 
sympathetic  insight  into  their  nature  and  needs — such 
an  insight  as  comes,  not  from  viewing  them  through 
the  medium  of  books  simply,  but  through  the  trans- 
parent medium  of  intimate  personal  friendship.  Human 
nature  is  usually  masked.  Its  real  sentiments  and 
deepest  convictions  shrink  from  the  cold  gaze  of  curi- 
osity, and  run  to  covert  on  the  approach  of  a  stranger; 
and  the  way  men  avoid  close  contact  with  the  average 
minister  is  a  familiar  experience.  Yet,  somehow,  peo- 
ple flocked  in  throngs  around  One  Man,  and  the  most 
timid  children  and  troubled  sinners  sunned  themselves 
in  His  presence.  It  was  because  "He  knew  what 
was  in  man ' '  and  touched  them  at  all  points  with  His 
healing  sympathy. 

It  is  not  enough  that  we  know  men  as  they  appear 
with  Sunday  manners  in  the  sanctuary  ;  we  must 
know  them  when  off  guard  and  self- revealed — in  their 
real  and  not  their  artificial  life.  It  is  not  enough  that 
we  know  what  they  saj'^  or  even  what  they  think,  but 
what  they  are  at  the  motive  fountains  of  their  conduct 
and  character. 

We   must   reconnoitre   and  explore  the  fortress 


SYMPATHY  AN   ELEMENT  OF   PSYCHIC  FORCE.    Il'J 

V,  Iiich  we  are  to  besiege,  discovering  its  secret  gal- 
leries, mines  and  magazines,  as  well  as  the  guns  that 
frown  from  its  walls  ;  or,  to  change  the  figure,  we 
must  vStudy  the  patient  whom  we  would  cure,  whose 
natural  constitution,  temperament  and  habits  have  so 
much  effect  in  helping  or  hindering  our  healing  work. 
A  comprehension  of  human  nature  in  all  its  phases  has 
always  been  one  of  the  strong  points  in  the  true  leaders 
of  the  world.  Men  of  splendid  intellectual  and  moral 
qualities  have  failed  to  sway  their  fellows  just  for  want 
of  understanding  and  feeling  with  the  men  of  their 
age. 

This  insight  is  essential  to  our  deepest  earnest- 
ness. Beneath  the  surface  of  moralities  our  eye  must 
fix  upon  the  rooted  alienation  from  God  ;  beneath  the 
gay  exterior  we  must  see  the  secret  woe,  and  through 
the  trappings  of  wealth  and  fashion  behold  a  soul 
shivering  in  rags  and  secretly  moaning,  ' '  I  perish  with 
hunger."  These  deeper  facts  of  humanity  must  en- 
gage us  ;  but  we  must  also  view  the  grandeur  that 
still  lingers  in  the  ruins  of  the  Divine  image  in  men, 
discover  the  jewels  buried  in  the  earth  and  see  the 
groping  and  hear  the  sighing  of  that  royal  prisoner  in 
the  citadel  of  sin,  and  behold  what  a  worthy  being  it 
is  whom  we  are  seeking  to  liberate  and  enthrone. 

It  must  be  a  sympathetic  insight.  Cynics  like 
Diogenes  and  Swift  and  Voltaire  and  Carlyle  have  had 
insight  of  men,  but  to  despise  or  despair  of  them. 
Wits  like  Rabelais,  Cervantes  and  a  swarm  of  satirists 
and  comedians  have  had  insight  of  men,  but  only  to 
laugh  at  the  frailties  and  absurdities.     Our  insight  is 


7l8  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

to  be  that  of  the  Christian,  the  brother  and  the  friend. 
With  purged  eyes  we  are  to  see  his  sin  and  folly,  his 
want  and  misery,  and  at  the  same  time  his  greatness 
and  possibilities,  his  sorrows  and  struggles,  his  yearn- 
ings and  all-embracing  hunger  and  thirst  after  some 
real  good.  And  all  this  we  must  view  in  charity,  our 
love  for  men  being  something  more  than  a  sentiment ; 
being,  indeed,  a  sacrificial  passion  for  their  spiritual 
and  temporal  well-being. 

There  is  a  study  of  man  which  is  purely  critical, 
which  has  no  reference  to  his  spiritual  value  or  con- 
cern for  his  welfare;  a  study  of  him  in  the  spirit  of  the 
mental  and  moral  anatomist ;  of  the  philosopher,  or 
sociologist,  or  sentimentalist.  To  many  students  of 
human  nature  and  human  history  man  is  only  a  dis- 
couraging and  distressing  problem.  Said  one  of  these 
bitterly,  "  The  more  I  know  of  men  the  more  I  love 
dogs."  Antipathy  to  men's  sins  sometimes  degener- 
ates into  a  scowling  dislike  of  the  sinner.  The  frivoli- 
ty, selfishness  and  hypocrisies  of  society  result  in  a 
morbid  and  growing  alienation  from  the  haunts  and 
homes  of  men  ;  the  gulf  widens,  and  the  man  becomes 
a  recluse.  In  the  solitude  of  his  study  he  tries  to  for- 
get the  ignoble,  unresponsive  crowd,  with  its  petty 
perversities  and  pauper  sensualities. 

But  this  is  of  itself  a  form  of  cowardice  and  sel- 
fishness that  must  be  crucified,  or  he  will  surely  lose 
personal  power  ;  it  will  be  sure  to  reveal  itself  in  a 
coldness,  or  austerity,  or  haughtiness  of  manner  which 
chills  and  hardens  and  repels  those  to  whom  he  should 
be  a  friend,  a  father  and  a  counsellor. 


SYMPATHY  AN   EI.EMENT   OF  PSYCHIC  FORCE.    II9 

If  the  minister  be  in  sympathy  with  Christ  and 
with  His  work,  he  will  be  in  sympathy  with  men  ;  he 
will  glow  with  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity.  Protracted 
years  of  college  and  seminary  training  and  exclusive 
association  with  books  and  students  often  results  in 
the  preacher  entering  upon  his  work  more  in  love  with 
ideas  than  with  men,  in  sympathy  with  his  own  class 
rather  than  with  men  at  large. 

The  true  minister  faces  the  world  like  the  Byzan- 
tine Madonna,  with  hands  outstretched  toward  all  the 
race.  He  takes  mankind  into  the  light  and  warmth 
of  his  heart.  He  studies  man  through  the  eyes  of 
Jesus  Christ,  along  the  lines  of  his  nature  as  God  made 
him,  of  his  failure  and  of  his  needs  and  of  his  possi- 
bilities of  perfect  restoration  and  happiness.  The  effect 
of  this  is  to  impart  pathos,  intensity,  patience,  eager- 
ness and  hope.  No  man  now  appears  "common  or 
unclean  ;"  the  soul  is  of  incalculable  value :  that  solves 
everything,  leads  to  every  sacrifice  and  effort.  The 
study  of  man's  original  and  indestructible  preciousness 
is  a  constant  support  to  his  reverence  and  courage, 
stimulates  an  infinite  and  active  and  yearning  love. 
This  love  being  recognized  b}^  those  to  whom  he  min- 
isters, awakens  a  confiding  response  and  gives  him  a 
peculiar  psychic  power. 

Such  a  sympathy  is  higher  and  broader  than  pit}', 
solicitude  or  condescension;  it  is  a  feeling  with  and  for 
men  in  the  whole  range  of  their  life  struggle.  It  is 
more  than  passive  sensitiveness  ;  it  is  a  lively  and 
steadfast  outgoing  of  heart  and  hand,  a  struggle  to 
blend  helpfully  with  other  hearts  and  lives.     It  is  an 


I20  PSYCHIC   POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

electric  nerve,  as  delicate  as  the  thread  spun  from  the 
insect's  bowels,  which,  floating  in  the  air,  attaches 
itself  easily  to  the  nearest  object  and  becomes  an  aerial 
bridge.  It  projects  itself  into  other  natures  and  estab- 
lishes an  invisible  link  of  intercommunion,  a  spiritual 
telegraphy,  that  makes  the  interpretation  of  thought 
and  feeling  clear,  and  effective,  and  welcome  withal. 

There  are  natures  cold,  reserved,  selfish,  which 
quite  unfit  their  possessor  for  the  true  work  of  the 
preacher.  And  there  are  natures  that,  from  ungenial 
environments,  have  grown  undemonstrative  and  retro- 
active, or  have  found  a  narrow  channel  for  their  affec- 
tions and  interests,  so  that  literature,  theology,  criti- 
cism, science  of  some  sort,  have  won,  fascinated  and 
enchained  sympathies  that  the  whole  struggling  world 
might  otherwise  have  enjoyed.  Such  men  cannot  ex- 
pect that  outflow  of  psychic  energy  in  preaching  which 
comes  from  a  larger,  livelier  interest  in  men. 

The  effective  preacher  will  have  heart-force  ;  an 
affluent,  genial,  frank,  confiding  nature  that  yearns  to 
blend  itself  with  others,  helping  them  to  bear  life's 
burdens.  Philosophical,  idealistic  and  abstracted  habi- 
tudes of  mind  tend  to  paralyze  psj'chic  force  by  alien- 
ating the  preacher  from  the  living  touch  of  the  actual, 
current  and  concrete  conditions  and  needs  of  men  in 
their  daily  trials,  and  sorrows,  and  cares. 

Enthusiasm  for  man  is  fed  by  actual  communion 
with  the  flesh-and-blood  humanity,  as  found  in  garrets 
and  mansions,  in  the  roar  of  factories,  the  harvest- 
field,  counting-room,  nursery  and  school  ;  aye,  at  the 
village  grocer}^  the  local  "primary,"   the  court-room 


SYMPATHY  AN  ELEMENT   OF  PSYCHIC  FORCE.    121 

and  the  jail.  The  decorous  festivities  of  the  college 
and  the  grim  passions  of  the  labor  strike,  the  pathetic 
sweetness  of  childhood's  faith  and  tlie  dark  abysses  of 
the  aged  skeptic's  soul  will  all  be  included  in  the  broad 
horizon  of  the  preacher's  sympathies  ;  nothing  that 
concerns  humanity  will  be  foreign  to  his  feeling.  For 
all  he  will  spend  and  be  spent  out  of  the  affluent  ten- 
derness of  his  own  heart. 

Dr.  O.  W.  Holmts,  writing  in  the  North  American 
some  years  ago,  deplored  the  weakening  of  the  pulpit 
resulting  from  the  ' '  destruction  of  the  priestly  char- 
acter of  the  preacher  "  at  the  Reformation.  He  forgot 
that  the  true  preacher  is  essentially  of  the  priestly 
spirit,  just  in  the  degree  that  he  possesses  the  heart  of 
Christ,  who,  as  the  high  priest  of  humanity,  S5^mpa- 
thized  in  all  its  temptations,  sorrows  and  wants.  He 
may  hold  the  key  of  human  hearts  without  claiming  to 
have  the  kej^s  of  heaven  and  hell  hanging  at  his 
girdle.  His  Christly  manhood  survives,  even  though 
he  has  sloughed  off  mitre,  stole,  chasuble  and  dal- 
matica.  The  fierce  communists  of  Paris,  scorning 
priestly  pretensions,  opened  their  hearts  freely  to  the 
simple-hearted  McAll  and  his  gospellers. 

To  contribute  to  psychic  force,  S3'mpathy  must  be 
robust,  and  not  effeminate.  It  is  never  indulgent  to 
obstinacy,  pride  or  indolence.  It  holds  fast  by  God's 
righteousness,  while  it  compassionates  man's  miseries; 
it  condemns  his  sins,  while  stretching  out  strong  hai]  's 
to  rescue  him  from  them.  It  disdains  to  flatter  or 
apologize,  even  while  it  refuses  to  cast  stones  at  the 
transgressor,    recognizing   the    peril   of  all   and   the 


122  PSYCHIC   P0WE;R   IN  PREACHING. 

proneness  of  each  to  sin.  It  is  no  languid  pity,  but  an 
alert,  hopeful  and  practical  quality  of  soul  that  floods 
the  sermon  with  life,  warms  it  with  charity  and  pro- 
pels it  toward  the  hearer  as  the  sinewy  sailor  propels 
the  lifeboat  toward  the  wreck.  Sympathy  with  no 
nerve  of  truth  in  it  makes  a  complaisant  preacher,  but 
he  has  no  masculine  grip  of  his  hearers.  They  may 
feel  his  velvety  touch,  but  will  not  be  quickened  by 
his  tonic  grasp. 

Sympathy  must  have  in  it  inspiration  to  effort 
rather  than  mere  soothing  under  life's  misfortunes  ; 
it  is  false  when  it  leads  men  to  pity  themselves  ;  it 
should  have  more  of  cheer  in  it  than  tears,  and  heal 
wounds  by  rallying  to  further  battle  rather  than  by 
bearing  them  to  the  hospital  tent. 

God's  method  with  the  despondent  Elijah  was  to 
summon  him  to  duty,  and  Christ's  way  of  comforting 
Peter  was  to  set  him  to  strenglhening  his  brethren. 
The  modern  pulpit  seems  to  accommodate  itself  more 
to  women  than  to  men.  It  needs  more  iron  in  its 
blood,  more  of  the  heroic  quality  that  strung  tightly 
the  nerves  and  sinews  of  the  primitive  Christians,  the 
Puritans,  the  Covenanters  ;  otherwise,  how  is  this  ma- 
terialistic age,  with  its  compromising  and  conventional 
Christianity,  to  get  vigor  and  enthusiasm  ?  The  Prot- 
estant pulpit  has  no  weapon  but  the  truth,  and  that 
truth  to  most  men  has  become  trite.  The  people  are 
already  familiar  with  all  things  sacred  and  profane 
through  the  omnipresent  press. 

They  come  to  church  after  a  week's  grazing  of  the 
cyclopaedic  newspapers  and  magazines,   so  mentally 


SYMPATHY   AN  ELEMENT   O^  PSYCHIC  FORCE.    1 23 

ennuye  that  they  are  not  as  easily  interested  in  ethical 
abstractions,  creed  championships  and  apologetics  as 
they  were  in  more  primitive  times,  when  the  catechism, 
a  devotional  book  or  two  and  the  almanac  were  their 
mental  and  moral  pabulum,  when  John  Bunyan  for 
fiction  and  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs  for  tragedy  and 
Watts' s  Hymns  for  poetry  formed  the  library  of  the 
people. 

To-day  the  news  from  all  over  the  world  of  every 
kind  competes  with  the  oft-repeated  teachings  of  the 
pulpit.  Nevertheless,  men  are  still  susceptible  to  the 
real  and  the  natural  when  flowing  fresh  from  heart- 
fountains  ;  and  if  we  would  make  our  message  effective 
among  the  rival  voices  claiming  their  interest,  if  we 
would  woo  them  to  a  life  of  consecration  in  a  world 
that  was  never  so  fascinating,  we  must  bring  the  gos- 
pel pulsing  with  soul  throbs,  overflowing  with  helpful 
humanities. 

In  some  men's  nature  sympathy  is  native  and 
congenial;  it  grows  wild;  perhaps  needs  pruning  and 
training.  In  others,  it  is  almost  an  exotic;  it  needs 
cultivating;  we  must  fertilize  its  soil  and  give  it  sun- 
shine and  irrigation.  It  must  be  developed  at  what- 
ever expense,  if  we  would  be  effective.  Some  men 
have  to  tear  themselves  away  from  their  libraries,  their 
metaphysics,  their  sermon-writing  and  mingle  with 
the  people  in  the  home,  the  shop,  the  street,  by  the 
sick  bed,  wherever  they  are  found  in  real  life.  To 
develop  sj^mpathy  we  must  confide  in  the  people,  open 
our  hearts  freely  to  them,  shorten  the  distance  between 
the  pulpit  and  the  pew,  win  the  people's  confidence, 


124  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

be  to  them  father,  and  mother,  and  brother,  and 
friend;  find  out  what  lies  at  the  root  of  their  daily 
history,  what  they  love  and  fear  most.  We  must 
share  the  troubles  and  delights  of  the  children  and 
youths,  the  struggles  and  cares  of  toiling  men  and 
burdened  women,  and  let  the  experiences  of  all,  both 
high  and  low,  touch  us,  blend  with  and  color  our 
thought  and  feeling;  and  thus  the  sermon  will  be  more 
and  more  a  thing  of  life  and  reality.  We  must  find 
out  what  men  are  hungering  and  thirsting  for,  and 
seek  from  God  the  supply. 

The  preacher  is  in  communication,  not  with  a 
merely  philosophic  dream  or  theory  of  life,  but  with 
its  actual,  stern  and  pathetic  facts;  with  the  seeming 
cruelty  of  nature  and  the  illusions  of  the  world;  with 
the  vanity  and  turbulence  of  youth;  the  obduracy  of 
unregenerate  years.  He  combats  the  half-formed  sin 
and  lukewarm  repentance,  the  shai-p  pain  of  regret 
and  the  rankling  sting  of  unkindness,  the  weariness  of 
hope  deferred  and  a  joyless  life,  the  sickness  of  a 
present  sorrow  and  the  bitterness  of  a  new  bereave- 
ment, the  consuming  fires  of  unbridled  passion  and 
the  weight  of  trouble  that  casts  down  the  soul,  with 
none  to  raise  it  again.  He  talks  to  the  fathers  of 
thankless  children,  to  the  young  man  about  to  enter 
life,  to  the  weary  seamstress,  with  her  poorly  paid 
v.'ork,  and  the  young  woman  who  seeks  some  clue  to 
her  destiny  and  the  best  mode  of  expending  her 
energies,  to  the  widow  and  fatherless,  and  to  the 
prosperous,  with  their  dangers  and  responsibilities,. 

The  contemplation  of  all  these  and  many  (f^hAz 


SYMPATHY  AN    EI.EMKNT  OF    PSYCHIC  FORCK.     1 25 

phcases  of  life,  and  the  dealing  with  them  in  gentle, 
firm  and  loving  truthfulness,  will  multiply  and 
strengthen  the  cords  of  sympathy  by  which  the 
preacher  draws  men  to  God.  He  will  find  his  con- 
genial as  well  as  his  proper  function  and  field  in  the 
common  experiences  of  life — its  business,  sufferings 
and  pleasures — not  in  the  emotional  transports  of  a 
vague  and  purposeless  enthusiasm  which  has  no 
reference  to  anything  be5'ond  itself,  its  circle  or  its 
church,  and  which  leaves  every-day  virtues  and  simple 
offices  of  good  for  transcendental  emotions,  whose 
effects  die  with  themselves.  Alas  for  the  congrega- 
tions whose  pastors  give  them  gems  of  polished 
thought  instead  of  bread;  who  blow  for  them  irides- 
cent bubbles  of  sentiment  instead  of  offering  the  cup 
of  salvation  ! 

When  the  preacher  is  en  rapport  with  his  hearers, 
when  a  strong  sympathy  moves  his  own  soul,  it  gives 
him  power  to  read  the  souls  of  men,  to  comprehend 
what  is  transpiring  within  the  bosom  of  at  least  cer- 
tain individuals.  "Man,"  says  Carlyle,  "carries 
under  his  hat  a  private  theatre,  wherein  a  greater 
drama  is  acted  than  is  ever  performed  on  the  mimic 
stage,  beginning  and  ending  in  eternity."  "Not  a 
heart,"  says  Amiel,  "  but  has  its  romance;  not  a  life 
which  does  not  hide  a  secret,  which  is  either  its  thorn 
or  its  spur.  Everywhere  grief,  hope,  comedy,  tragedy; 
even  under  the  petrifactions  of  old  age,  as  in  the 
twisted  forms  of  fossils,  we  may  discover  the  agita- 
tions and  tortures  of  youth.  This  thought  is  the 
magic  wand  of  poets  and  preachers."    Sympathy  {^crvv. 


126  PSYCHIC    POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

Tra^os ) ,  a  feeling  with  another,  is  a  sort  of  normal 
clairvoyance,  an  elementary  thought-reading.  This 
was  one  thing  which  gave  George  Whitefield  such 
power  over  an  audience,  that  men  cried  out  and 
women  fainted  under  the  revelations  he  made  to  them 
of  their  heart  and  life  history.  It  was  a  familiar 
thing  for  him  to  ' '  indicate  what  his  hearers  were 
thinking  about  at  the  moment;  and  sometimes  this 
was  so  striking  as  to  give  them  an  impression  of 
almost  supernatural  insight." 

Human  nature,  while  in  its  essential  features  it  is 
the  same  in  all  men  everywhere,  yet  presents  a  bound- 
less variety  of  phases  in  detail.  The  preacher  must 
study  these  phases  in  the  actual  people  he  ministers  to. 
Many  a  person  is  alienated  from  preaching  because 
the  man  in  the  pulpit  does  not  touch  him.  The  teach- 
ing seems  abstruse,  metaphysical,  idealistic — anything 
but  human,  familiar  and  practical. 

The  minister  is  liable  to  judge  of  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  needs  of  the  people  by  those  of  his 
own  class,  or  by  those  of  fiction,  of  the  dramatist,  or 
historian;  and  hence  he  is  often  addressing  conditions 
of  mind,  phases  of  feeling,  forms  of  temptation  and 
experiences  of  life  quite  foreign  to  those  to  whom  he 
preaches.  He  is  too  often  addressing  creatures  of  his 
own  imagination,  wasting  his  ammunition  on  men  of 
straw,  exploding  shells  in  trenches  long  since  deserted. 
He  must  find  the  real  men,  and  women,  and  boys,  and 
girls  of  his  own  parish,  where  they  are  most  at  home 
with  themselves;  where  they  are  most  sensitive,  most 
conscious  of  need.     He  will  thus  set  his  sermons  to 


SYMPATHY  AN   ELEMENT  OF  PSYCHIC    FORCE.    1 27 

running  along  the  channels  of  their  habitual  thoughts 
and  aspirations.  ' '  There  is  a  man  that  understands 
me;  I  will  listen  to  him."  People  love  the  man  who 
comprehends  them  in  a  brotherly  and  helpful  way. 

Thomas  Hughes,  in  Tom  Brown'' s  School  Days, 
gives  us  a  boy's  impressions  at  hearing  Arnold  of 
Rugby's  first  sermon:  "  It  was  not  the  cold,  clear 
voice  of  one  giving  advice  and  warning  from  serene 
heights  to  those  who  were  sinning  and  struggling  be- 
low, but  the  warm,  living  voice  of  one  who  was  fight- 
ing for  us  and  by  our  sides,  and  calling  on  us  to  help 
him  and  ourselves  and  one  another." 

The  value  to  the  preacher's  whole  being  of  this 
constant  study  of  human  nature  cannot  be  over- 
estimated or  over-stated.  The  exalted  value  of  men's 
souls  and  the  pathetic  mysteries  of  human  life  will 
have  for  him  a  fascination  far  greater  than  that  of  his 
printed  book.  It  will  be  pursued,  not  in  a  critical  or 
inquisitive  way,  but  with  the  serious  enthusiasm  of 
one  who  has  alighted  upon  an  inexhaustible  treasure — 
a  problem  of  the  highest  moral  interest. 

The  student  of  history,  of  art,  of  the  physical 
sciences,  finds  exhilaration  and  development,  yet  in 
these  there  is  limitation.  But  in  the  study  of  men  as 
immortal  souls,  freighted  with  infinite  treasures  of 
faculty  and  affection,  infinite  possibilities  of  happiness 
and  misery,  an  endless  career  of  growth  and  achieve- 
ment, one  finds  stimulus  for  all  his  psychic  powers 
without  a  parallel.  Here  is  a  mine  that  grows  richer 
the  deeper  we  delve,  a  nature  that  grows  grander  the 
higher  we  ascend.     Even  the  biologist,  the  novelist, 


128  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN    PREACHING. 

the  poet,  the  historian,  finds  mental  ana  uioral  enlarge- 
ment and  excitement  in  the  study  cf  man;  but  the 
preacher  who  loves  souls  approaches  his  subject  in  a 
different  spirit — with  reverence,  faith  and  affection — 
with  both  solicitude  and  hope.  His  concern  is  with 
the  ethical,  psychical  and  spiritual  man,  and  here  he 
will  find  scope  for  his  intensest  and  broadest  grasp  of 
thought  and  feeling. 

Imagination  also  comes  in  to  broaden  our  view 
and  quicken  our  sensibilities. 

We  think  of  each  man  as  a  little  cosmos,  popu- 
lated with  thoughts,  feelings,  purposes  and  passions — 
an  arena  for  tragic  battle.  We  think  what  he  has 
passed  through  in  the  bygone  years  and  of  what  he 
may  yet  have  to  experience.  We  picture  him  as  solv- 
ing the  problems  of  life,  as  choosing  the  better  or  the 
worse  part,  as  yielding  to  God  or  resisting  His  Spirit. 
We  think  of  him  as  renewed  in  soul,  starting  out  on  a 
redeemed  life,  loving  God  and  climbing  heavenward. 
We  picture  the  powers  of  heaven  and  hell  striving  to 
win  him;  we  think  of  the  heart  of  Christ  loving  him, 
and  the  imagination  has  added  its  force  to  the  pathetic 
enthusiasm  of  the  soul. 

And  thus  if  the  preacher  has  a  parent's  or  a  shep- 
herd's heart,  he  will  grow  daily  in  love  for  his  flock, 
in  tender  S5^mpathy  for  his  children;  he  will  find  in 
his  parish  constant  food  for  both  his  joy  and  his  sorrow. 
He  fears  for  them,  hopes  for  them,  )'earns  for  them, 
till  Christ  be  formed  in  them.  He  keeps  in  daily 
touch  with  them;  is  the  recipient  of  their  most  sacred 
confidences.     His  sympathy  is  a  magnetism  that  draws 


SYMPATHY  AN  EI^EMRNT  OF  PSYCHIC    FORCR.    1 29 

them  to  him.  Thus  he  gains  a  power  that  may  prove 
men's  salvation.  He  will  discover  that  almost  every 
one  of  them,  whether  converted  or  not,  has  had  a 
religious  history.  This  is  true  even  of  the  most  god- 
less man  who  has  come  to  adult  years,  however  much 
his  soul  may  be  trodden  into  worldliness  ])y  respectable 
sin  or  trampled  into  the  mire  by  the  rush  of  swinish 
sensualities. 

There  is  a  soft  spot  in  every  heart;  would  that  we 
^ould  find  it !  But  the  man  guards  it  jealously  and 
fiercely,  with  an  instinctive  feeling  that  this  is  the  very- 
citadel  of  his  soul,  which  no  cold  theological  hands 
may  touch  and  no  human  eye  must  look  upon.  Yet, 
to  the  magic  touch  of  frank  and  genial  sympathy  these 
men  will  yield — even  with  the  trust  of  children. 

It  is  this  power  of  insight  that  discovers  to  the 
pastor  the  hearts  of  those  who  for  months  and  years 
have  worn  an  aspect  of  utter  composure  or  restless 
defiance,  while  all  the  while  the  inner  spirit  was 
trembling  on  the  verge  of  conviction.  At  last,  under 
the  penetrating  warmth  of  the  pastor's  life  and  love, 
these  hearts  melt  with  the  rush  of  a  river  whose  ice 
barriers  yield  to  the  tender  solicitations  of  the  spring- 
time. 

Let  the  preacher,  then,  cultivate  his  power  of  sym- 
pathy. Let  him  in  every  breath  breathe  in  the  life  of 
his  fellow  men,  every  nerve  of  his  body  becoming  a 
conductor  of  the  electric  force  between  his  own  heart 
and  brain  and  those  of  his  fellow  men.  The  insulation 
of  a  human  being  from  his  fellows  is  death,  and  is 
complete  in  the  grave.     Our  physical  nature  owes  its 


I30  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING, 

existence  and  preservation  to  society.  Neither  life 
nor  the  propagation  of  life  is  possible  for  the  solitary 
individual.  Our  emotional  nature  lives  by  love  and 
self-surrender;  if  these  die,  it  is  dead. 

Even  our  intellectual  nature  can  scarcely  live  and 
flourish  in  solitude.  Surel}^  then,  if  as  preachers  we 
would  become  a  healthful  inspiration,  a  reforming, 
regenerating  and  uplifting  force  in  society,  we  must 
implicate  our  brain,  and  heart,  and  life  with  the  vital 
essence  of  that  society.  When  the  prophet  laid  his 
staff,  by  the  hand  of  his  servant,  upon  the  dead  boy, 
he  remained  dead;  but  when  he  drew  near  and 
stretched  himself  w^on  the  lad,  mouth  to  mouth,  heart 
to  heart,  hand  to  hand,  then  the  lad,  thrilled  with 
returning  warmth,  arose  to  life. 


The  Psychic  Power  of  Authority  and 
Love 


chapter  ix 

The  Psychic  Power  of  Authority  and 
Love 


THE  history  of  mankind,  in  every  age  and  sphere, 
is  a  demonstration  of  the  psychic  power  of 
authority,  both  in  its  objective  and  subjective 
forms,  whether  that  impression  be  clearly  defined  to 
the  subject  or  an  irrational  conviction.  Whether 
among  men  the  most  degraded  and  brutal,  or  among 
men  the  most  civilized  and  cultured,  all  are  swayed 
and  led  by  what  impresses  them  as  authoritative. 
There  is  an  instinctive  perception  and  recognition  of 
a  something  which  carries  with  it  submission  and 
obedience.  Pride,  passion,  conceit  or  self-will  may 
for  a  while  rebel  against  recognized  authority;  but 
they  are  conscious  of  the  unequal  contest,  and  the 
conclusion  is  either  the  fatal  violence  of  desperation  or 
the  humiliation  of  surrender. 

Authority  in  the  moral  realm  makes  its  appeal  to 
reason  and  conscience,  and  the  combined  consent  of 
these  two  will  generally  carry  the  citadel.  This  is 
emphatically  true  in  matters  of  the  soul.  The  extent 
to  which  religious  authority,  as  represented  by  the 
Church,  the  priesthood,  the  Pope,  the  creed  and  even 
the  visible  symbol,  has  dominated  the  world,  is  one  of 
the  marvels  of  history.     It  has  been  seen  in  the  abject 

131 


132  PSYCHIC  POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

submission  of  lofty  intellects  and  haughty  crowns,  as 
well  as  in  the  slavish  obedience  of  the  more  docile  of 
men. 

In  modern  times  and  in  Protestant  churches  there 
has  been  a  marked  declension  of  authority.  The 
vicious  excess  to  which  Rome  had  carried  its  exercise 
brought  about  a  reaction  which  has  reached  an 
extreme  in  our  day ;  which  amounts  almost  to  abdica- 
tion. Men  whose  calling  it  is  to  represent  Him  who 
"  spake  not  as  the  scribes,  but  with  authority,"  have 
so  generally  renounced  their  high  function  that,  in  sub- 
stance and  manner  and  spirit,  their  message  to  the 
world  is  as  void  of  authority  as  it  is  of  virility. 

The  vague  and  inconsistent  attitude  of  not  a  few 
ministers  of  religion  doubtless  suggested  the  cynical 
division  of  the  race  into  "three  sexes — men,  women 
and  the  clergy. ' '  Almost  the  only  men  who  seem  to 
speak  with  authority  are  those  speculators  in  ideas 
who,  assuming  the  title  of  the  "  advanced  "  or  "  the 
higher  critics,"  utter  their  oracular  bulletins  from  the 
dim  caves  of  German  universities;  and  their  Anglo- 
Saxon  competitors  who  trot  out  their  callow  brood  of 
speculations  with  not  enough  meat  on  them  to  furnish 
a  child's  lunch. 

Are  there  not  many  pulpits  which  count  it  a 
virtue  to  treat  every  postulate  of  theology  as  an  open 
question,  which  give  the  people  their  opinions  instead 
of  ' '  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  ?  ' ' 

He  is  not  altogether  a  fictitious  character  who  is 
represented  as  saying  to  his  congregation:  "The 
Apostle  Paul  remarks  "  (thus  and  thus),  "  and  I  par- 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  LOVE.       1 33 

tially  agree  with  him  ! ' '  There  are  not  a  few  who,  if 
not  exactly  afraid  to  claim  their  soul  is  their  own,  are 
at  least  too  morbidly  modest  to  utter  themselves  with 
the  boldness  of  conviction.  "I  venture  to  say, 
although  you  may  not  agree  with  me,"  and  similar 
phrases  are  too  familiar  forms  of  address.  The  shep- 
herds seem  ambitious  to  put  themselves  on  a  level 
with  the  sheep,  and  consult  their  preference  as  to 
which  way  they  should  be  led.  They  shrink  from  the 
appearance  of  claiming  superior  wisdom  and  leader- 
ship, and  some  are  content  to  be  recognized  as  simply 
"  a  preaching  brother,"  or,  at  most,  the  exponent  of 
the  average  sentiment  and  life  of  the  congregation. 
With  some,  it  is  oftener  "  thus  say  the  scholars,"  or 
"thus  says  the  poet,"  or  "the  philosopher,"  than 
"  thus  saith  the  Lord." 

The  days  of  "proof-texts,"  which  were  like  the 
/lammer  and  the  fire  in  driving  home  and  clinching  the 
truth,  seem  to  have  been  superseded  by  the  days  of 
cloudy  illustration  and  fanciful  analogies.  The  power 
of  the  prophet  has  been  lost  in  the  pathos  of  the 
pleader;  and  the  pulpit,  for  the  most  part,  is  no  longer 
a  throne  from  which  the  Eternal  speaks  through 
anointed  lips,  but  a  platform  for  popular  discussion  of 
current   social  and  religious  themes. 

There  are  many  notable  exceptions  to  this  state- 
ment, and  not  a  few  men  of  prophetic  fire  and  pente- 
costal  boldness,  who  make  our  hearts  cry  out, 
"  Would  that  all  the  Lord's  servants  were  prophets  !  " 
but  the  decay  of  authority  in  the  pulpit  is  none  the 
less  conspicuous  in  this  age  of  material  earnestness  and 


134  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

mental  levity.  A  perverted  and  presumptnous  socialism 
has  subjected  many  of  our  pulpits  to  its  leveling  pro- 
cess, and  the  latter  seem  struggling  to  secure  popu- 
larity with  the  ' '  masses  ' '  at  the  sacrifice  of  power. 
But  the  world  will  never  be  led  by  following  it,  and 
tlie  church  and  ministry  that  is  to  control  men,  that 
is  to  win  confidence,  and  inspire  reverence,  and  mould 
character,  must  speak  with  authority.  Men  in  their 
more  serious  moments,  in  their  real  mental  perplexi- 
ties and  religious  inquiries,  yearn  for  authority,  and 
can  find  repose  in  nothing  else.  There  are  in  every 
congregation  many  sincere  but  unlearned  souls,  with 
an  incapacity  or  disinclination  for  independent  investi- 
gation, who  are  in  a  state  of  perpetual  hovering, 
unable  to  alight;  or  having  timidly  touched  ground, 
they  are  still  fluttering  and  restless.  To  such  the 
voice  of  authority  falling  from  the  Shepherd  and  Phy- 
sician of  souls  is  a  vast  benediction,  and  their  only 
way  to  certainty.  It  brings  peace  and  rest;  the  tossed 
surface  of  their  mind  becomes  like  a  calm  lake,  in 
which  the  heaven  of  truth  may  mirror  itself.  The 
clear  recognition  of  authority  is,  to  the  critical  and 
contentious,  a  quietus;  even  dislike  of  the  truth  can- 
not hold  its  own  for  long  against  it.  lyike  the 
Roentgen  "  X-rays,"  it  has  a  power  to  penetrate  even 
the  fleshly  indifference  in  which  men's  consciences  are 
often  imbedded,  and  so  reach  that  slumbering  faculty 
as  to  give  it  enlightened  action. 

As  the  world  grows  in  intelligence  it  refuses  to 
submit  to  shams  which  masquerade  in  the  garb  of 
infallibility,  yet  the  history  of  the  last  half  century 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  LOVE.       1 35 

shows  that  many  of  the  most  earnest  minds,  after 
tossing  on  the  shifting  waves  of  speculation,  philoso- 
j'hy  and  doubt,  have  taken  refuge  in  a  so-called 
"  infallible  Church,"  because  they  had  been  led,  by  a 
logic  (in  which  there  was  a  lurking  fallacy)  to  believe 
that  authority  resided  there :  and  this  largely  because 
its  priesthood  and  literature  persistently  claimed  and 
pressed  it  into  the  foreground.  That  authority  it 
insisted  on,  which  antiquity,  universality  and  unity 
warranted.  With  dignit5^  solemnity  and  unfaltering 
accent  of  conviction  the  Roman  hierarchy  has  de- 
fended this  claim  till,  in  spite  of  many  opposing  facts, 
it  has  carried  conviction  to  minds  of  a  high  order,  as 
well  as  to  the  ignorant. 

The  yearning  for  authority  is  natural  and  of  the 
highest  reason  when  the  question  is  one  that  concerns 
the  immortal  soul;  and  the  church  and  ministry  that 
fails  to  answer  it  will  fail  to  satisfy  the  heart  or  sway 
the  will.  Men  are  creatures  of  faith,  and  faith  can 
only  rest  on  the  bed-rock  of  sovereign  truth. 

There  must  also  be  the  conviction  of  the  immu- 
table. Faith  only  hovers  restless  if  there  be  a  symp- 
tom of  change.  It  must  appear  divine  also — must 
bear  the  credentials  of  a  throne  of  eternal  verity. 
Men  yield  to  the  authority  of  the  man  who  speaks  as 
an  ambassador  from  the  Heavenly  King.  Let  the 
preacher  carry  in  his  word  and  manner,  and  tone,  this 
quality,  and  it  adds  an  almost  irresistible  power.  And 
this  is  a  quality  that  cannot  be  well  assumed.  It  must 
spring  from  a  deep  conviction,  a  consciousness,  solemn 
and  controlling,  of  his  commission  and  anointing  for 
the  high  service  of  voicing  the  word  of  the  Lord. 


136  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

When  we  have  uttered  God's  truth  we  must  not 
be  over-anxious  to  defend  it.  It  is  better  simply  to 
keep  on  repeating  it.  It  will  vindicate  itself.  The 
truth  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  truth,  nor  from 
error,  either;  but  it  has  something  to  fear  from  its 
over-anxious  apologists,  and  we  may  even  abandon  the 
truth  in  our  pursuit  of  its  assailants.  Despotic  logic 
does  not  always  mean  divine  persuasion. 

The  temper  of  this  age  seems  to  oscillate  between 
intensity  of  concentration  and  recklessnej^-s  of  conse- 
quences, between  a  passion  for  tragedy  and  a  limitless 
frivolity;  but  if  we  look  a  little  deeper,  we  shall  dis- 
cover that  a  multitude  of  men  are  weary  equally  of  the 
philosophy  of  despair  a. id  the  opera  bouffe  of  social 
hypocrisy;  and  they  will  put  confidence  in  the  man 
who  has  a  serious  faith,  whose  gravity  of  manner  and 
depth  of  tone  show  his  sense  of  the  reality  of  things, 
the  importance  of  life,  the  perils  and  possibilities  of 
the  men  and  women  to  whom  he  speaks,  and  the  value 
of  his  embass3^  to  them. 

Authority  must  wear  the  garb  of  gravity.  Men 
have  ceased  to  stand  in  awe  of  the  minister  as  a 
"  ghostl}^  confessor  " — as  holding  the  keys  of  life  and 
death  ;  but  they  are  not  yet  willing  to  listen  to  a  pulpit 
popinjay  who  prides  himself  in  not  being  ' '  minis- 
terial." There  is  a  gravit)^  which  has  nothing  in  it 
oppressive  or  chilling — a  gravity  which  is  the  child  of 
earnestness,  and  carries  in  it  the  pathos  of  a  soul 
burdened  with  a  great  responsibility  and  a  great  love. 

To  possess  authority  a  man  must  have  a  clearly 
defined  creed.     He  must  know  what  he  believes,  and 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  I.OVE.       1 37 

belicYe  it  with  his  whole  soul.  His  Christian  feeling 
may  be  broad  in  its  sympathies  and  free  from  bigotry, 
but  his  doctrine  must  be  a  clear,  deep  stream,  flowing 
between  solid  banks,  else  it  will  become  a  swamp  or  a 
morass.  The  expansive  lake  avails  nothing  to  gener- 
ate electric  power.  But  how  different  when  its  water 
flows  through  the  close  and  rock-ribbed  banks  of 
Niagara ! 

To  possess  authority  a  man  must  have  the  spirit 
of  mastery — mastery  of  himself,  of  his  subject  and  of 
his  method.  Some  men  are  by  nature  masterful — are 
born  to  rule;  but  even  in  such,  self-command  must  be 
cultivated  if  they  would  command  respect.  Paul  said 
to  the  people  of  Lystra,  ready  to  give  him  divine 
honors:  "Sirs,  we  are  men  of  like  pa.ssions  with 
yourselves. ' '  Preachers  of  the  true  apostolic  succes- 
sion have  learned  how  to  ' '  keep  under  their  body  and 
rule  their  own  spirit."  They  were  "competent  to 
curb  erotic,  erratic,  eruptive  forces  in  others,  so  far  as 
they  had  recognized,  developed  and  subjugated  their 
own  vehement  and  palpitating  passions — no  further. ' ' 
Masculinity  must  not  be  sacrificed  to  meekness.  Pas- 
sive and  passionless  natures  are  destitute  of  magnetism. 
As  in  chemistry,  fermentation,  which,  unrestrained, 
tends  to  corruption,  rightly  regulated,  preserves  sub- 
stance and  heightens  quality ;  so  the  surgent  passions 
in  strong  and  disciplined  men  impart  steadfastness  to 
the  will  and  dominion  over  other  minds. 

Equally  must  he  be  master  of  his  subject  and  the 
method  of  presenting  it.  ' '  The  words  of  the  wise  are 
as  goads  and  as  nails  fastened  by  the  inaste7'  of  assem- 
blies,  which  are  given  from  one  shepherd. ' ' 


138  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

The  preacher  of  authority  will  not  propound 
truths  in  a  hypothetical  form.  He  will  not  say: 
' '  Does  the  soul  die  with  the  body  ?  ' '  He  will  use  the 
affirmative  form:  "The  soul  does  not  die  with  the 
body;  the  soul  lives  forever. "  The  people  respect  a 
strong,  self-reliant  and  fearless  affirmation,  declared 
boldly  and  in  the  name  of  God,  which  admits  of  no 
"ifs"  or  "  buts,"  which  descends  from  on  high, 
claiming  the  assent  of  all  without  distinction. 

Another  aid  to  authority  is  consecration.  How 
many,  in  our  day,  have  a  secular  air  that  speaks  noth- 
ing of  inward  or  outward  sanctity!  They  affect  a 
smart,  airish,  up-to-date,  hale-fellow  manner.  They 
awaken  little  respect  and  less  reverence  as  being 
ambassadors  of  the  high  court  of  heaven.  In  the 
pulpit  they  deal  with  sublime  things  in  a  low  way,  and 
with  eternal  things  in  a  style  that  combines  the  wit  of 
the  comedian  with  the  logic  of  the  campaign  orator. 
There  is  a  lack  of  poise  in  the  effort  to  be  life-like,  and 
of  dignity  in  the  aim  to  be  entertaining;  a  manner 
quite  foreign  from  Dryden's  portrait  of  the  minister: 

"  Nothing  reserved  or  sullen  was  to  see, 
But  sweet  regards  and  pleasing  sanctity; 
Mild  was  his  accent  and  his  action  free." 

Self-consciousness,  the  obtrusiveness  of  the  ego, 
is  antagonistic  to  authority.  It  is  impossible  to  be 
seriously  influenced  by  a  vain  preacher.  ' '  The  more 
pains,"  says  the  Archbishop  of  Cambray,  "  an  haran- 
guer  takes  to  dazzle  me  by  the  artifices  of  his  dis- 
course the  more  I  despise  his  vanity.  I  love  a  serious 
preacher  who  seeks  my  salvation,  not  his  own  vain- 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  LOVE.       1 39 

glory."  Vincent  de  Paul  wrote,  with  reference  to  the 
humble  dignity  and  sobriety  of  certain  clergymen  in 
his  day,  finding  expression  in  their  outward  form  and 
manner:  "  What  the  eye  sees  goes  more  straightly  to 
the  heart  than  what  the  ear  hears,  and  we  believe 
more  unquestionably  therein.  There  is  a  somewhat 
indescribable  in  the  exterior  of  God's  own  servants — a 
something  lowly,  recollected,  devout,  which  springs 
from  their  inward  grace,  and  which  reacts  upon  the 
souls  of  those  who  are  brought  in  contact  with  them. 
There  are  men  among  us  so  full  of  God  that  it  is 
impossible  to  look  at  them  without  being  touched  by  a 
mysterious  power. ' ' 

The  basal  source  of  authority  is  divine  truth. 

The  men  of  this  twentieth  century  do  not  bow  to 
the  sanctions  conferred  by  hoary  antiquity  or  ecclesi- 
astical ordination;  office,  and  function,  and  reverend 
titles  do  not  carry  the  weight  they  once  did.  When 
men  ask  of  us,  "  By  what  authority  do  you  claim  our 
ears  ? ' '  we  must  produce  something  more  than  a 
sheepskin  written  over  with  Latin  credentials  and 
bearing  the  impressive  seal  of  a  university.  Among 
Protestants,  even  the  "  Councils  of  the  Church  "  is  no 
longer  a  phrase  to  conjure  with;  we  cannot  summon 
venerable  tradition,  nor  ecclesiastical  law,  nor  the 
power  and  penalty  of  excommunication  to  enforce 
authority.  The  spirit  of  mental  and  spiritual  inde- 
pendence is  rampant  and  everywhere  abroad.  Our 
audiences  are  jewels,  rather  than  disciples.  Besides, 
where  the  element  of  fear  enters,  there  freedom  of 
choice  disappears. 


140  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

Therefore,  the  dynamic  force  of  authority  resides 
simply  in  the  Truth  itself  and  the  Divine  source  from 
which  it  springs.  To  speak  with  authority  a  man 
must  apprehend  clearly,  believe  heartily  and  feel 
deeply  that  the  thing  he  utters  is  the  unadulterated 
truth  of  God.  The  Word  as  a  divine  revelation,  a 
divine  message,  a  divine  law,  a  divine  gift,  must  have 
taken  full  possession  of  the  preacher's  intelligence  and 
heart;  his  whole  being  must  bow  before  it  with 
implicit  faith  and  adoring  reverence.  He  must  him- 
self have  obeyed  it;  he  must  rest  upon  its  granite 
foundations  for  his  own  soul's  salvation.  Then  he 
is  in  a  position  and  spirit  to  utter  it  with  an  authority 
that  springs  from  evidence  and  with  the  force  of  con- 
viction that  springs  from  experience.  "I  believed; 
therefore  have  I  spoken."  "  We  speak  the  things  we 
do  know,  and  testify  of  that  which  we  have  seen." 

In  listening  to  some  men  you  feel  repelled  by  an 
impression  that  in  their  heart  of  hearts  they  do  not 
realize  or  believe  a  word  of  what  they  are  saying;  that 
they  have  never  experienced  aught  of  the  thing  of 
which  they  are  speaking.  In  listening  to  others,  you 
know  at  once  that  they  are  on  fire  within  with  faith 
and  conviction  of  the  truth,  and  that  in  earnestness  of 
purpose  their  lives  correspond  to  their  speech.  And 
these  are  the  only  men  that  reach  you.  It  is  simply 
impossible  not  to  listen  to  them.  In  the  name  of  God 
they  lay  hold  on  your  understanding  and  conscience, 
and  you  cannot  escape  them.  When  you  come  near 
to  them  you  feel  the  heat  of  the  hidden  fire,  and  you 
know  that  this  divine  fire  has  been  kindled  by 
Almighty  love. 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  I.OVE.       141 

"  If  God  sent  Francis  de  Sales  to  teach  men,  Pere 
de  Condren  seemed  fit  to  teach  angels,"  says  one  of 
his  biographers.  And  another  says:  "  There  was  all 
the  difference  between  Pere  de  Condren  and  most 
other  men  that  there  is  between  one  who  relates  to 
you  things  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes  and  one  who 
only  repeats  what  he  has  been  told. ' '  Naturally,  this 
deep  personal  insight  into  spiritual  truth  gives  a  man 
a  great  spiritual  perception,  not  merely  of  ordinary 
character,  but  of  the  spiritual  condition  and  needs  of 
his  audience,  so  that  he  seems  to  them  to  speak  with 
supernatural  authority,  to  read  their  very  thoughts,  to 
take  a  diagnosis  of  their  souls  and  furnish  the  antidote 
to  their  sins  and  sorrows;  and  they  surrender  to  him, 
as  to  a  learned  specialist,  for  their  moral  maladies. 

Again,  he  will  speak  with  authority  who  is  con- 
scious of  the  treinendo2is  weight  a7id  co7iseque7ices  of  his 
message.  Realizing  the  need  of  an  authoritative  utter- 
ance on  matters  profoundly  vital  to  the  soul  in  such 
critical  conditions,  he  will  base  his  message  on  nothing 
less  than  the  throne  of  God  itself.  The  importance  of 
this  supreme  appeal,  even  the  incarnate  Word  Him- 
self reveals  in  such  repeated  assertions  as,  ' '  The 
word  which  ye  hear  is  not  Mine,  but  the  Father's 
which  sent  me,"  "  My  doctrine  is  not  Mine,  but  the 
Father's  which  sent  me."  If  He  whose  word  could 
wake  the  dead  and  cast  out  devils  felt  the  pressing 
need  of  freighting  his  message  with  the  august  author- 
ity of  His  Father,  how  much  more  we  who,  in  con- 
scious insufficiency,  echo  that  word  ! 

And   again,  he  will   speak   with  authority  who 


142  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN   PREACHING. 

' '  dwells  in  God  and  God  in  him . ' '  Christ  said :  ' '  The 
words  that  I  speak  unto  you  I  speak  not  of  Myself, 
but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  Me;  He  doeth  the 
works."  And  every  one  who  takes  up  His  message 
and  repeats  it  to  the  world  must,  in  an  humbler  but 
as  real  a  way,  speak  as  the  Spirit  which  is  in  him 
giveth  utterance.  It  was  said  of  one  that  ' '  he  habit- 
ually preached  as  if  Jesus  Christ  was  standing  by  his 
side,"  and  nearly  every  one  can  recall  some  herald  of 
the  Cross  whose  face  almost  shone  like  that  of  Moses, 
and  whose  whole  presence  and  expression  awed  the 
hearer  as  of  one  who  spoke  as  an  oracle  of  God. 

Personal  authority,  emanating  from  weight  and 
worth  of  character,  is  another  dynamic  factor.  There 
are  men,  to  be  sure,  whose  mere  self-assertion,  whose 
air  of  superiority,  whose  owl-like  assumption  of  wis- 
dom or  ponderous  voice,  carries  with  it  an  impression 
of  importance;  but  only  to  the  ignorant  or  the  undis- 
criminating.  The  discerning  will  not  fail  to  discover 
beneath  the  lion's  skin  the  elongated  ears,  and  in  the 
affected  roar  the  ridiculous  bray  of  the  less  noble 
beast.  The  man  of  authority  in  our  day  must  possess 
mental  and  moral  volume  and  value.  His  depth,  and 
height,  and  largeness  of  soul  must  be  manifest,  as  well 
as  his  freedom  from  hobbies  and  eccentricities,  from 
pomp  and  pedantry.  Simplicity  and  unaffected  con- 
descension toward  the  unlearned,  serenity  and  patience 
with  the  disputant,  lucidity  and  precision  in  state- 
ment, will  all  add  to  the  psychic  effect  of  authority. 

Authority  brings  down  high  looks,  disarms  skep- 
ticism, awakens  confidence,  silences  cavil,  sobers  levity, 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OP  AUTHORITY  AND  LOVE.       1 43 

produces  mental  repose  and  makes  a  supreme  demand 
upon  the  will — a  demand  which  is  supported  on  the 
one  side  by  reason  and  on  the  other  by  conscience.  It 
changes  the  preacher's  attitude  from  one  of  defense  to 
one  of  attack.  The  Great  Preacher  never  took  the 
defensive.  The  Great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  did  not 
instruct  Timothy  to  preach  apologetics,  but  to  ' '  preach 
the  word. ' '  The  command  of  the  INIaster  as  to  preach- 
ing always  implies  an  authoritative  proclamation,  and 
primitive  preaching  was  alwaj^s  of  this  character.  By 
manifestation  of  the  truth  they  commended  themselves 
to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God,  Psy- 
chic force  goes  with  positive,  unmitigated,  unfaltering, 
uncompromising  affirmation  of  the  truth,  an  affirmation 
as  calm  as  it  is  fearless,  in  which  boldness  and  hu- 
mility, dignity  and  gentleness,  are  nobly  blended. 
There  is  no  strength  in  a  human  soul  that  can  ulti- 
mately withstand  a  persistent  and  reiterated  ' '  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  The  man  on  bended  knees  will  kiss 
it  as  an  extended  sceptre,  or  as  a  descending  rod  of 
iron  it  will  dash  him  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel. 

A7id  of  love. 

This  tone  of  authority  must,  however,  be  modu- 
lated and  sweetened  by  love,  that  mystic  force  that 
pervades  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  which  saturated 
the  spirit  of  Him  who  "  spake  as  never  man  spake." 

Science  tells  us  that  the  heat  and  light  of  the  sun 
must  needs  shine  through  the  earth's  environment  of 
atmosphere,  or  it  would  scorch  and  blind  those  it  now 
warms,  and  to  whom  its  "  light  is  sweet. "  Equally 
true  it  is  that  naked   authority  to  a  perverted  and 


144-  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN   PREACHING. 

rebellious  soul  would  only  oppress,  or  harden,  or  shut 
it  up  to  impotent  desperation.  Clothed  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  love,  recognized  as  the  pathetic  imperative  of 
love,  the  soul  opens  to  it  as  frozen  nature  to  the 
genial  pressure  of  the  resistless  springtime.  Icebergs 
of  defiant  unbelief,  scorning  the  tempests,  melt  down 
and  surrender  when  caught  in  the  warm  gulf-stream 
of  a  Christly  tenderness  in  the  preacher.  A  nature 
that  hardens  at  dictation  becomes  pliant  and  malleable 
in  the  fires  of  sympathy. 

If  we  analyze  the  psychic  power  of  this  love,  we 
shall  see  in  it  the  element  of  surprise.  Men  are  so 
used  to  seeing  every  one  intent  on  his  own  interests, 
gains  and  pleasures,  doing  everything  because  it  pays, 
that  they  at  first  suppose  the  preacher  is  actuated  by 
some  selfish  motive  to  increase  his  church  for  mere  love 
of  fame  or  power.  When  they  discover  unselfish  love 
as  his  motive,  they  are  as  much  surprised  as  if  they 
came  suddenly  on  a  blooming  garden  and  crystal 
spring  in  a  dreary  desert.  They  are  disarmed,  at- 
tracted, hidden  chords  in  their  hearts  are  touched, 
they  surrender  to  the  soothing  or  stimulating  magic. 

This  psychic  result  is  as  natural  as  the  product  of 
any  other  law  of  human  nature.  The  heart  is  longing 
for  love  ;  while  men  may  treat  it  lightly  as  a  senti- 
ment, they  blindly  yearn  for  it  as  a  necessity,  and 
timidly  or  impulsively  turn  toward  it  as  plants  in  a 
room  turn  toward  the  sunny  window.  This  instinct 
is  the  ' '  lost  chord  ' '  which  we  must  feel  after  with  a 
hand  that  has  been  nailed  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  is 
a  wandering  and  timid  child  who  must  be  wooed  by 
lips  that  have  kissed  the  bleeding  feet  on  Calvary. 


PSYCHIC  POWER  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  I.OVE.       1 45 

To  say  that  the  preacher  is  completely  swayed  by 
a  passion  so  pure  and  perfect  would  place  him  quite 
above  the  infirmities  of  human  nature  ;  if  he  live  near 
the  Lord  whom  he  ser\'es,  he  will  often  be  mortified 
by  the  discovery  of  the  contrast  with  that  ideal.  A 
flash-light  of  introspection  will  reveal  depths  in 
which  pride  and  love  of  praise  are  lurking.  The 
illumined  minister  will  sometimes  hate  and  despair  of 
himself  on  this  account. 

It  is  related  of  Lacordaire  that  when  he  returned 
from  the  pulpit  of  Notre  Dame  he  would  sometimes 
prevail  on  one  of  his  associates  to  scourge  him  with  the 
knotted  rope  of  the  penitent,  to  subdue  the  pride 
which  the  applause  of  his  sermon  awakened;  and  many 
a  mighty  preacher,  like  Whitefield,  has  fasted  and 
wept,  on  his  face,  before  God,  to  exercise  the  false 
love  of  fame  and  power  which  would  usurp  the  sacri- 
ficial love  of  souls.  Doubtless  the  secret  of  much 
wasted  intellectual  power  and  the  alienating  of  some 
men  from  our  congregations  is  due  to  the  absence  of 
the  winning  energy  of  love. 

The  preacher  who  humbly  seeks  an  increase  of 
this  all- important  charm,  this  divine  fascination,  will 
find  it  in  continual  study  of  the  pathos  of  human  life 
and  of  the  heart  of  his  Master.  Have  we  not  discov- 
ered that  the  human  channel  through  which  the  love 
of  God  is  to  find  access  to  men  must  be  in  accord  and 
vital  touch  with  the  power  that  flows  through  him  ? 
Electricity  loses  its  force  in  so  far  as  it  is  encased  in  a 
non-conducting  sheath,  and  j'ou  cannot  make  a  flame 
pass  through  ice.      Alas  for  the  non-conducting  pride, 


146  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

the  icy  intellectuality  of  our  pulpits  !  There  is  such  a 
wide  difference  between  the  reasonableness  of  truth 
on  which  we  are  apt  to  depend  and  the  ' '  sweet  rea- 
sonableness of  Jesus  Christ."  Insignificant  is  the 
number  who  are  impelled  to  faith  and  action  by  the 
force  of  logic  in  comparison  with  those  who  are  drawn 
by  their  affections.  And  mere  reasoning  can  control 
the  affections  about  as  easily  as  a  flame  can  be  bound 
and  led  by  a  rope.  To  have  authority  with  men,  they 
must  be  loved  much.  Love  is  the  only  positive  and 
creative  force  that  works  among  men.  Its  effect  is 
always  life-begetting,  organizing  and  energizing.  If  a 
man  has  love,  let  him  have  it  more  abundantly  ;  if  it 
be  lukewarm  or  diluted  with  self,  let  him  get  it  purged 
and  heightened  by  the  Spirit's  fire  into  a  Christ-like 
fervor.  If  he  has  not  love,  let  him  not  think  to  preach. 
Let  him  turn  to  speculation,  or  politics,  or  romancing 
for  fame  and  gold — but  let  him  not  trifle  with  souls  for 
whom  Christ  died. 


The  Psychic  Power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 


chapter  x 
The  Psychic  Power  of  The  Holy  Spirit 

ON  the  day  of  Pentecost  a  band  of  peasant  evangel- 
ists faced  the  world  with  a  new  religion.  They 
were  furnished  with  neither  prestige  nor  earth- 
ly power;  they  had  neither  a  priesthood,  nor  temple, 
nor  learning,  nor  formulated  creed,  nor  even  organiza- 
tion or  visible  leadership.  They  had  only  a  Gospel 
and  the  testimony  of  personal  experience.  But  their 
word  was  with  power.  With  that  weapon  of  fire  they 
attacked  the  iron  fortresses  of  Antiquity,  Supersti- 
tion, Philosophy.  Skepticism,  L,uxury,  Pride  and  Po- 
litical Despotism,  and  everywhere  prevailed.  They 
confounded  the  wise,  convinced  the  infidel,  converted 
the  depraved  and  reared  the  fabric  of  Christianity  on 
the  ruins  of  every  false  faith. 

And  through  all  the  ages  since,  wherever  Christi- 
anity has  made  substantial  progress;  it  has  been  b}^  a 
Spirit-quickened  Word  in  the  lips  of  Spirit-endued  men, 
Christianity  is  the  child  of  the  Divine  Spirit  through 
the  seed  of  the  Divine  Word;  its  sustenance  and  de- 
velopment are  from  the  same  eternally  fresh  and  aflBu- 
ent  source,  and  its  power  of  victory  over  the  world  is 
"  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith 
the  Lord." 

Speculators  in  opinions  talk  glibly  of  ' '  the  religion 
of  the  future,"  which  they  say  is  to  supersede  the  Gos- 

147 


148  PSYCHIC   POWER  IN   PREACHING. 

pel;  but  the  religion  of  the  future  must  always  answer 
the  deep  question,  "  Hath  God  spoken  ?"  That  ques- 
tion is  triumphantly  answered  when  the  old  Gospel 
is  preached  with  the  fresh  power  of  the  Pentecostal 
Spirit. 

When  He  who  was  the  Incarnate  Word  was  about 
to  enter  on  His  mission  the  Spirit  visibly  rested  on 
Him ;  and  it  was  then  the  Father  said, ' '  Hear  ye  Him. " 
When  He  returned  from  the  wilderness  of  fasting, 
temptation  and  triumph,  ' '  He  returned  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  into  Galilee  and  taught  in  their  synagogues, 
being  glorified  of  all. ' '  When  He  preached  in  Naza- 
reth He  began  by  quoting  and  applying  to  Himself 
Isaiah's  Messianic  prophecy,  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  upon  me,  because  He  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 
the  Gospel."  When  He  was  preparing  His  disciples 
to  take  up  His  work.  He  gave  them  a  three- fold  injunc- 
tion and  promise.  He  commanded  them  to  tarry  in 
Jerusalem  till  they  should  be  ' '  endued  with  power 
from  on  high,"  and  added  the  promise,  "ye  shall  be 
baptized  with  the  Hol}'^  Ghost  not  many  days  hence;" 
and,  again,  "ye  shall  receive  power  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  come  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  wit- 
nesses, ' ' 

In  all  these  utterances  the  power  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  is  represented  as  the  essential  condition  of  the 
effective  ministration  of  the  Word.  In  obedience  to 
His  command  they  tarried  in  Jerusalem,  watching, 
praying  and  waiting  till  Pentecost,  when  the  promise 
of  the  Father  and  the  Son  received  a  mighty  arid 
marvelous  fulfilment;  "  they  were  all  filled  with  the 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    1 49 

Holy  Spirit;"  the  symbolic  cloven  tongues  of  fire  sat 
upon  each  of  them,  and  "  they  began  to  speak  with 
other  tongues  as  the  Spirit  gave  thcni  utterance." 

At  this  all  Jerusalem  was  moved,  and  the  multi- 
tudes came  running  together  to  hear,  repent,  believe, 
and  thousands  in  a  day  were  made  the  willing  subjects 
of  the  Nazarene,  whom  they  had  but  lately  rejected 
and  driven  out  of  the  world.  Thus  was  inaugurated 
the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry  and  the  campaign  of 
Christianity  for  the  conquest  of  the  world.  It  is  clear 
that  the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was,  then,  the 
essential  and  supreme  co7iditio7i  of  fitness  in  the  preacher. 
Every  man  who  is  called  to  preach  the  Gospel  is  under 
the  same  injunction  and  is  heir  to  the  same  promise. 

That  which  was  an  essential  preparation  for  Apos- 
tolic preaching  is  equally  essential  to  every  true  suc- 
cessor of  the  Apostles,  and  its  possession  is  his  highest 
credential.  Without  this  power,  preaching  is  but 
"  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal;"  with  it,  the 
Gospel  becomes  the  ' '  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  belie veth." 
Judith,  presenting  herself  before  Holofernes,  clothed 
herself  in  her  richest  attire — her  bracelets,  her  ear- 
rings, her  fillets  of  purple,  her  pins  of  gold.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  ' '  God  gave  her  splendor. ' '  Thus  the 
preacher  may  clothe  himself  with  truth,  with  logic, 
with  rhetoric,  imagery,  illustration  and  art,  but  these 
are  not  enough  for  his  high  purpose.  Except  he  1  e 
transformed  and  transfigured  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
"clothed  with  salvation  as  a  garment,"  he  never  can 
be  the  agent  of  Divine  transformations.   • 


I50  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

A  moral  diagnosis  of  the  material  upon  which  the 
Gospel  wrought  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  still 
operates  on  the  occasion  of  every  Pentecostal  sermon, 
reveals  human  nature  destitute  of  the  life  of  God,  a 
chronic  alienation  from  the  truth  and  a  ruling  passion, 
armed  to  resist  its  argument  and  appeal  at  all  points. 
But  what  a  drastic  and  revolutionary  effect  that  first 
sermon  had!  As  the  word  sounded  in  men's  outward 
ear  it  resounded  to  the  abyss  of  their  souls.  It  was 
sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword;  and,  as  it  pierced, 
they  were  conscious  that  it  was  wielded  by  an  invisible 
but  resistless  hand;  convictions  flash  into  their  hearts 
as  the  lightning  cleaves  the  night;  their  sin  against 
Christ  looms  like  a  spectre  of  judgment;  they  tremble 
in  the  grasp  of  their  surging  emotions.  And  as  they 
smite  their  breasts  they  cry  out,  ' '  Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do?" 

Thus  we  see  fallen,  perverted  and  prejudiced  human 
nature,  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  Gospel's  mission, 
absolutely  conquered  and  transformed  by  spiritual 
power.  Human  nature  is  still  fallen,  and  ruled  by  the 
same  passions;  the  preacher's  commission  is  the  same 
— to  herald  the  Gospel;  and  the  Gospel  is  Jesus  Christ's 
own  message.  The  Word  as  touched  by  the  senses  has 
passed  into  the  heavens;  yet  the  moment  before  he 
ascended,  and  as  the  supreme  incitement  to  his  fol- 
lowers in  their  preaching  he  said,  ' '  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  with  you  to  the  end  of  the  age."  Therefore 
our  model  and  rule  to  the  end  of  time  is  the  same  mes- 
sage, to  the  same  world,  by  the  same  Spirit,  with  the 
same  unction  and  sanction  as  that  which  He  possessed. 


THK   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF  THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    I51 

The  preacher  is  to  think  Christ's  thoughts,  to  feel 
Christ's  emotions  and  to  do  Christ's  works ;  nay, 
"  greater  works,"  He  said,  "  than  these  ye  see  me  do 
shall  ye  do,  because  I  go  to  the  Father. "  The  promise 
has  been  literally  fulfilled  wherever  a  spiritual  ministry 
has  held  forth  the  living  word;  the  deaf  are  made  to 
hear  the  joyful  sound,  the  blind  to  behold  the  Lamb  cf 
God;  palsied  souls  spring  into  holy  action,  and  the  dead 
in  sin  awake  to  righteousness  and  live  for  Christ.  This 
is  the  perennial  fact  of  the  Gospel — a  living  word 
spoken  by  living  men,  producing  holy  and  eternal  life. 

The  operation  of  the  Divine  Spirit  may  be  occult, 
but  the  fruits  are  in  beautiful,  convincing  evidence. 
Christianity  is  unique  in-  these  respects,  and  quite  out 
of  the  field  of  all  human  religions.  The  latter  peep, 
mutter,  stammer;  Christianity  speaks  as  light  and  as 
thunder  speak.  It  utters  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord!" 
Other  religions  dream,  speculate,  philosophize;  Chris- 
tianity affirms,  proclaims,  revolutionizes  and  shows 
radical  and  eternal  results. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  supreme  force  171  the  preacher. 
What  life  is  to  the  body,  that  is  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the 
minister's  work.  What  the  sun  is  to  the  planet,  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  minister, 
imparting  a  divine  and  developing  warmth  to  his  affec- 
tions and  illuminating  his  intellectual  processes.  It  is 
the  fertilizing  and  reproductive  power  in  his  soul. 

The  energy  of  the  Spirit  begins  with  the  casting 
down  and  out  of  self.  It  is  as  when  the  Angel  of  God's 
presence  wrestled  with  Jacob,  humbling  his  native 
pride,  breaking  his  native  strength,  while  in  that  very 


152  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN    PREACHING. 

hour  Jacob  received  the  supreme  blessing — ' '  power 
with  God  and  with  men."  The  preacher  is  tempted 
to  prepare  and  preach  his  sermons  from  some  form  of 
selfish  motive;  it  may  be  gratification  of  intellectual 
pride,  or  a  lurking,  unacknowledged  and  even  undis- 
cerned  love  of  applause;  it  may  be  desire  for  a 
crowded  house,  or  solicitude  to  maintain  his  position  or 
climb  to  a  higher  one;  it  may  be  the  natural  but  still 
selfish  desire  for  conspicuous  success.  It  may  be — 
alas!  what  may  it  not  be,  in  the  endless  variety  of 
motives  and  aims — divorced  from  the  simple  glory  of 
God  and  good  of  souls  ? 

Now,  in  as  far  as  these  motives  sway  him,  they 
weaken  the  force  of  his  message  as  a  Divine  communi- 
cation. But  nothing  will  free  him  from  them  but  the 
baptism  of  fire;  the  pervading,  searching,  saturating 
flame  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  seizing  upon  him  and  bring- 
ing all  into  subjection  to  the  law  of  Christ,  who  said, 
"  I  came  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him 
that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  His  work." 

There  are  preachers  whose  pulpit  work  yields 
apparently  insignificant  results,  for  all  their  elaborate 
preparation.  Their  discourses  are  logical  in  structure, 
clear  in  exegesis,  rich  in  illustration,  beautiful  in  style 
raid  graceful  in  delivery,  but  they  fall  with  the  weight 
of  an  iridescent  icicle  on  an  admiring  but  unmoved 
congregation;  no  souls  come  to  them  in  penitence,  no 
finny  shoals  fill  their  net,  no  spiritual  children  rise  to 
call  them  blessed,  and  demons  laugh  at  their  attempts 
to  exorcise  them.  The  secret  cause  of  their  failure  is 
the  absence  of  spiritual  power.     They  need  not  a  new 


THE   PSYCHIC    POWER   OF   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    1 53 

Gospel,  nor  a  new  field  (though  they  are  apt  to  seek 
one  or  the  other),  but  a  Pentecost  in  their  study,  a 
fiery  baptism  in  their  souls. 

Rev.  Wm.  Arthur  has  well  said:  "A  piece  of 
iron  is  dark  and  cold;  imbued  with  a  certain  degree  of 
heat,  it  becomes  almost  burning  without  any  change 
of  appearance;  imbued  with  a  still  greater  degree,  its 
very  appearance  changes  to  solid  fire,  and  it  sets  fire 
to  whatever  it  touches.  A  piece  of  water  without 
heat  is  solid  and  brittle;  gently  warmed,  it  flows;  fur- 
ther heated,  it  mounts  to  the  sky.  An  organ  filled 
with  the  ordinary  degree  of  air  which  exists  every- 
where is  dumb;  the  touch  of  the  pla3'er  can  elicit  but 
the  clicking  of  the  keys.  Throw  in,  not  another  air, 
but  an  unsteady  current  of  the  same  air,  and  sweet 
but  imperfect  and  uncertain  notes  respond  to  the 
touch;  increase  the  current  to  a  full  supply,  and  every 
pipe  swells  with  music.  Such  is  the  soul  without  the 
Holy  Spirit;  such  the  changes  that  pass  upon  it  when 
it  receives  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  such  its  action  when 
it  is  endued  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. ' ' 

This  power  is  demonstrated  in  various  ways  in 
the  preparation  and  delivery  of  the  sermon; — to  begin 
with: 

In  the  preparation. 

I.  In  the  discovery  and  interpretation  of  the  truth 
itself.  It  is  of  highest  concern  to  remember  that  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  are  spiritually  discerned.  How 
can  we  claim  to  speak  in  the  name  of  God  and  utter 
'  *  the  word  of  the  Lord ' '  except  we  have  had  inter- 
preted to  us  that  word  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  whose 


154  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

function  it  is  to  take  the  things  of  Christ  and  revea*i 
them  unto  us  ? 

The  preacher  is  a  prophet.  The  priestly  office 
ended  with  Christ,  the  prophetical  is  continued  in  the 
preacher:  "  To  another  is  given  prophecy."  This 
function  is  not,  indeed,  for  the  predicting  of  future 
events  not  before  revealed;  but  he  is  nevertheless  to 
speak  "  as  the  oracles  of  God."  He  is  to  stand  be- 
tween the  living  and  the  dead  till  the  plague  be 
stayed  ;  to  hold  forth  the  world  of  life. 

He  is  not  responsible  for  the  way  in  which  men 
treat  the  message,  but  he  is  responsible  that  he  deliver 
it  with  all  faithfulness.  And  how  is  he  to  do  this  if  he 
has  not  received  it  from  the  throne  ?  What  the  pro- 
phet tells  forth  he  must  first  be  told.  In  the  Acts  we 
read  that  "Judas  and  Silas,  being  prophets  also  them- 
selves, exhorted  the  brethren  and  confirmed  them;"  and 
when  Paul  urges  us  to  covet  the  ' '  spiritual  gift ' '  of 
prophecy,  it  is  because  "  he  that  prophesieth  speaketh 
unto  men  to  edification,  and  exhortation  and  com- 
fort." 

The  ancient  prophet,  when  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  him,  was  made  to  see,  as  his  most  exalted 
vision,  "the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that 
should  follow,"  though  he  himself  comprehended  little 
of  the  full  significance  of  the  vision  ;  and  t  he  preacher 
of  to-day  enjoys  highest  communication  from  above 
and  utters  his  grandest  message  to  the  world,  when 
' '  Christ  and  him  crucified  ' '  fills  the  horizon  of  his 
awed  and  delighted  contemplation,  and  He  "whom 
not  having  seen  he  loves ' '  becomes  a  vivid  and  moving 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF  THE    HOI.Y  SPIRIT.    1 55 

reality^  whose  glory  he  proclaims  and  whose  claims  he 
urges  as  if  the  invisible  were  standing  by  his  side;  as  if 
his  eyes  beheld  and  his  ears  heard,  and  his  lips  simply 
voiced  what  Christ  was  speaking  to  him. 

' '  The  same  Spirit  that  summoned  out  of  the  remote 
future  the  Messiah  to  appear  before  Isaiah  as  a  '  Lamb 
led  to  the  slaughter '  summons  the  same  Saviour  out  of 
the  remote  past  as  a  L,amb  dying  on  Calvary."  The 
difference  between  presenting  a  dead  Christ  on  the 
cross  as  a  historic  event  long  past  and  presenting  a 
dymg  Christ  as  revealed  by  the  vSpirit  to  the  preacher's 
soul  is  all  the  difference  between  a  tame  and  formal 
deliverance,  which  neither  awakens  the  conscience  nor 
kindles  emotion,  and  that  forceful  and  penetrating 
preaching  which  thrills  and  quickens  to  penitence  and 
love. 

Intellectual  processes,  critical  discriminations, 
comparison  of  exegetical  authorities,  all  will  not  suf- 
fice to  rightly  interpret  the  word  of  God,  except  that 
in  all  and  above  all,  the  student  has  the  specific 
anointing  of  the  eyes  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  this 
holy  fire  that  will  cause  the  pure  gold  to  flow  from  the 
ore,  the  pure  savor  to  ascend  from  the  censer  which 
makes  it  a  "  sweet  savor  unto  God  and  a  savor  of  life 
unto  men. ' ' 

The  vianner  in  which  the  Spirit  operates  may  be 
inexplicable,  but  the  fact  is  sufficiently  transparent 
and  comprehensible. 

All  the  natural  powers  are  raised  above  their 
normal  condition  ;  the  insight  of  the  mind  becomes 
more  penetrating  and  exact ;  the  inductive  processes 


156  PSYCHIC  powe;r  in  preaching. 

and  imagination  are  purged  and  quickened  and  the 
power  of  the  truth  on  his  own  soul  is  increased.  His 
motives,  aims  and  affections  in  handHng  the  word  are 
freed  from  deceit  and  pride  ;  an  intense  reality  invests 
the  whole  process  ;  he  is  practically,  though  scarcely 
consciously,  thinking  God's  thoughts,  and  his  soul  is 
expanding  with  emotions  akin  to  the  Divine.  The 
love  of  the  Spirit  for  men  pours  its  warm,  genial 
tides  through  his  heart,  and  he  finds  himself  pleading 
with  men  as  a  man  pleads  for  his  own  life.  He 
enters  into  Paul's  experience  when  he  cried  "as 
though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you,  in 
Christ's  stead." 

Herein  lies  his  power  with  men.  The  pulpit  loses 
its  hold  on  the  life  and  thought  of  the  people  when 
it  loses  its  spiritual  eyesight.  If  the  preacher  has  but 
the  eye  to  see  and  the  tongue  to  express  the  glories 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  men  will  hear  him  gladly. 

When  William  Blake,  the  poet-painter,  was  asked 
if  he  saw  the  rising  sun,  he  answered,  "  No  '  No  !  I 
see  a  heavenly  host,  and  I  hear  them  chanting,  '  Holy  ! 
Holy  !  Lord  God  Almighty,  Heaven  and  earth  are  full 
of  thy  glory  !  '  "  He  saw  with  the  spiritual  eye  and 
heard  with  the  spiritual  ear  of  the  poet;  and  he  who 
cannot  thus  see  and  hear,  to  him  has  not  been  given 
to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

A  lens  may  be  made  of  ice  through  which  sunbeams 
passing  will  set  on  fire  materials  placed  in  their  focus; 
but  not  so  with  the  light  of  truth  passing  through  a 
cold  heart.  The  glowing  temperature  which  the  fiery 
baptism  gives  is  essential  in  the  medium  of  transmis- 


THB   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF  THE   HOI,Y  SPIRIT.    1 57 

sion.  If  the  preacher's  soul  be  as  a  candle  lighted  by 
the  Lord,  if  his  lips  are  touched  by  the  live  coal  from 
God's  altar,  if  his  lamp  is  continually  filled  by  the  oil 
flowing  from  the  living  olive  tree  and  tended  by  Him 
who  walketh  amid  the  golden  candlesticks,  there  will 
be  rays  of  truth  streaming  from  that  soul  into  others, 
along  which  the  Spirit's  secret  influence  moves. 

If  he  receive  and  hold  the  divine  magnetism  as 
the  Ley  den  jar  holds  electricity,  he  then  onl}'-  needs 
the  divinely  appointed  wire  to  conduct  it  to  his  audi- 
ence. But  that  connecting  medium  is  not  of  earthly  ma- 
terial, it  is  that  Word  which  Christ  meant  when  He 
said  :  "The  words  which  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life. ' '  Its  form  may  be  infinitely 
varied,  its  essence  must  be  the  same.  //  zs  the  passion 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  reveal  Christ. 

The  Holy  Spirit  will  clarify  and  intensify  the 
preacher' sy^zV/z  in  the  Word.  It  is  a  part  of  the  bap- 
tism of  the  Spirit  to  plunge  the  belief  of  the  brain 
into  the  very  blood  of  the  heart,  so  that  when  the  man 
preaches  his  hearers  will  catch  the  contagion  of  his 
vital  faith.  It  was  thus  with  the  worldly  man  who 
heard  Charles  Kingsley.  "  I  went,"  he  said,  "as  you 
told  me — you  were  right.  That  man  believes,  and  he 
sent  me  to  my  Bible  to  read  and  pray."  The  tone  and 
accent  of  conviction  is  a  powerful  factor  in  preaching — 
an  element  utterly  wanting  in  the  professional,  per- 
functory and  parrot-like  essays  of  men  whose  doctrine 
is  merely  hereditary  or  churchly. 

The  Spirit  of  God  will  ^wo.  freedom  to  the  preach- 
er's soul  and  tongue.     Doubtless  there  is  a  "  bondage 


158  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

of  the  pulpit ;  "  it  is  a  bondage  of  doubt,  and  some- 
times of  fear,  and  sometimes  of  the  manuscript;  some- 
times of  self-consciousness,  sometimes  of  the  audience 
as  a  company  of  spies  and  critics  ;  but  ' '  where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  there  is  liberty."  It  is  wonder- 
ful what  independence  of  circumstances,  of  men's 
judgments,  of  nervous  solicitude,  it  confers  !  As  the 
flame  leaps  to  heaven  in  bold,  free,  victorious  energy, 
regardless  of  opposition,  subduing  everything  to  itself 
— so  a  spirit-inflamed  minister  is  as  free  as  were  those 
Hebrews  in  the  furnace,  their  bonds  consumed,  them- 
selves walking  harmless  with  one  like  unto  the  Son  of 
God. 

' '  At  such  times  the  soul  walks  on  high  places  ;  it 
walks  automatically  and  with  sovereign  force,  without 
constraint  or  urgency  of  volition.  The  man  himself 
is  amazed  at  the  rush  with  which  both  thought  and 
utterance  come.  The  reserved  forces  break  into  play. 
Things  are  at  hand  w^hich  had  seemed  inaccessible. 
Previous  knowledge  is  as  if  transfigured.  The  whole 
spirit  is  full  of  energy,  full  of  light.  It  rejoices  to 
reveal  itself  in  action  and  in  speech  ;  and  its  words 
are  instinct  with  brightness  and  power." — Dr.  R.  S. 
Storrs,  Led.  p.  loy. 

What  limit  is  there  to  the  force  of  that  man  in 
whom  rolls  and  surges  the  deep,  shoreless  sea  of  divine 
inspiration  ;  who  is  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness 
above  his  fellows;  who  is  mightily  conscious  of  the 
ever  blessed  God,  as  a  concrete  and  personal  inhabi- 
tant, a  living  sympathetic  quickener  of  thought  and 
emotion  ?  He  is  upborne  by  a  power  invisible,  but  as 
real  as  is  the  sea  to  the  swimmer  who  floats  on  its 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER  OF   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    1 59 

emerald  bosom,  or  as  the  ambient  air  to  the  saihng 
eagle.  His  utterance  will  be  a  blending  of  serenity 
and  energy  ;  he  will  be  free  from  the  nervous  tension 
and  unnatural  strain  of  voice  and  manner  which  ex- 
haust both  himself  and  his  audience. 

It  is  indeed  impossible  to  express  or  overestimate 
the  force  represented  in  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit.  It 
might  be  compared  to  the  incalculable  force  of  Niagara, 
whose  placid  bosom  and  mighty  plunge  carry  a  power 
competent  to  generate  electric  power  and  light  for  a 
hundred  great  cities. 

Lacordaire,  speaking  of  his  call  to  preach  unex- 
pectedly at  Notre-Dame,  says  :  ' '  Moreover,  it  is  with 
the  orator  as  with  Mount  Horeb:  before  God  strikes 
him  he  is  but  barren  rock,  but  as  soon  as  the  Divine 
hand  has  touched  him,  as  it  were,  with  a  finger,  there 
burst  forth  streams  which  water  the  desert. ' ' 

Again,  the  Holy  Spirit  bestows  the  energy  of  a 
divine  insatiable  yearning  for  the  souls  of  the  people  ;  He 
imparts  that  thrilling,  vitalizing  power  with  which,  in 
the  beginning,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  brooded  over  the 
face  of  the  waters,  till  out  of  darkness  and  chaos  there 
emerged  a  world  of  order,  beauty  and  fruitfulness.  One 
will  have  the  experience  of  which  Paul  speaks  in  Gal- 
atians,  iv.:  "  My  little  children  of  whom  I  ain  again 
in  travail  till  Christ  be  formed  in  you  ;"  and  in  I. 
Corinthians,  iv.,  15:  "  For  in  Christ  Jesus  I  have  be- 
gotteyi you  thro2igh  the  Gospel." 

What  is  this  but  that  secret,  vital  movement  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  in  his  most  sacred  and  pathetic  energy 
involved  in  the  birth  of  souls,  in  which  exquisite  pain 


l6o  PSYCHIC   POWER    IN   PREACHING. 

and  exquisite  desire  mingle  in  one  soul,  ready  to  die 
that  others  may  be  born  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? 
This  is  not  a  natural  stress  and  agony  of  desire,  but 
the  Divine  Spirit  mightily  quickening  in  the  preacher's 
soul  infinite  yearnings  to  reproduce,  in  the  image  of 
Christ,  the  life  that  swells  and  pulsates  in  his  own 
breast. 

In  the  pulpit. 

But  not  only  must  the  preparation  of  the  sermon 
itself,  from  the  choice  of  theme  to  the  peroration 
or  application,  be  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit ; 
not  only  must  interpretation,  argument,  illustration 
and  all  the  product  of  meditation  in  the  study  be  influ- 
enced by  the  illumination  and  impregnation  of  the 
preacher's  mind  and  heart,  but  he  must  have  the 
enduement  of  spiritual  power  in  the  act  and  process  of 
delivery. 

As  one  cannot  carry  fragrant  ointment  shut  up 
in  the  palm  of  his  hand  and  unnoticed  :  the  per- 
fume will  reveal  itself — so  the  man  of  God  in  whose 
soul  and  sermon  a  spiritual  essence  dwells,  will  betray, 
unconsciously,  to  the  congregation  his  secret.  Even 
in  his  ordinary  life, 

' '  When  one  who  holds  communion  with  the  skies 
Has  filled  his  urn  where  those  pure  waters  rise, 
And  once  more  mingles  with  us  meaner  things, 
It  seems  as  if  an  angel  shook  his  wings — 
Immortal  fragrance  fills  the  circuit  wide. 
That  tells  us  whence  his  treasure  was  supplied. ' ' 

Much  more  will  this  appear  when  the  Ambas- 
sador, direct  from  the  Throne,  receiving  his  message, 


THE    PSYCHIC    POWER    OF   THE    HOLY  vSPIRlT.    l6l 

as  it  were,  face  to  face  with  the  Eternal,  confronts  the 
expectant  people.  He  will  be  recognized  by  them  as 
clothed  with  something  more  than  secular  or  scholarly, 
or  oratorical  interest.  If  his  face  does  "  not  shine  like 
that  of  Moses  coming  down  from  the  mount,  with  daz- 
zling glory,  yet  there  will  be  something  in  his  mien, 
his  bearing,  his  action  and  utterance  that  will  impress 
the  beholder  with  the  thought,  'This  man  has  been 
with  Jesus  and  learned  of  Him.'  " 

In  the  act  of  preaching  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  operates  along  the  ner\''es  of  the  preacher's 
whole  being,  producing  results  as  real  in  the  psychical 
realm  as  in  the  physical  realm  does  electricity  or 
gravitation.  Both  are  mysterious  and  inexplicable  ; 
both  are  consciously  felt  as  an  experience,  and  both 
are  visible  in  their  results.  Effects  are  produced  upon 
the  preacher's  native  faculties  and  upon  those  of  the 
congregation,  which  are  supernatural  and  cannot  be 
accounted  for  by  any  known  laws  of  the  human  con- 
stitution. 

Will  any  one  doubt  that  the  disciples,  as  they 
preached  at  Pentecost,  were  conscious  of  a  new  energy 
working  through  them,  giving  them  new  interpreta- 
tions of  the  words  of  Christ,  new  understanding  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures,  new  boldness  of  faith,  new 
love  and  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  men  ?  In  every  way 
they  were  in  a  condition  of  mental  and  moral  inspira- 
tion and  exaltation,  and  they  boldly  and  promptly 
answered  those  who  wondered  and  those  who  scoffed, 
by  quoting  the  prophetic  promises  of  the  pouring  out 
of  the  Spirit  and  declaring  this  to  be  the  fulfilment 


l62  PSYCHIC    POWKR    IN   PRKACHING. 

thereof.  And  the  effects  justified  their  claim.  The 
men  whom  not  even  the  words  of  Christ  had  moved, 
whom  the  awful  pathos  of  Calvary  had  not  touched, 
were  cut  to  the  heart,  in  deep  humility  confessing 
these  despised  disciples  to  be  "  men  and  brethren, ' '  and 
anxiously  seeking  of  them  help  in  the  cry,  ' '  What 
must  we  do  ?  " 

Now,  as  men  are  so  constituted  by  their  Creator 
as  to  respond  to  Him  when  the  right  chords  in  their 
nature  are  struck  by  a  cunning  hand,  the  psychic 
touch  of  the  Spirit  and  the  psychic  answer  will  be 
coincident.  An  experiment  in  physics,  familiar  to 
the  modern  student,  may  illustrate  this.  Such  is  the 
relation  between  the  waves  of  sound  and  waves  of 
flame,  that  when  a  certain  note  is  struck  upon  a  musical 
instrument  held  near  a  column  of  gas  flame  the  latter 
is  thrown  into  lively  agitation,  while  to  every  othei 
note  it  is  impassive.  In  the  same  way,  there  is  a  tone 
and  quality  in  the  spiritual  character  and  expression 
of  the  preacher  by  which  the  hearts  of  men  will  be 
stirred  to  faith,  repentance  and  love,  while  they  would 
remain  senseless  and  unresponsive  to  the  man  who 
spoke,  however  eloquently,  on  the  lower  plain  of  mere 
worldly  wisdom  or  aesthetic  inspiration.  The  only 
explanation  we  can  give  is  in  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture— ' '  There  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  Almighty  giveth  him  understanding. ' ' 

The  dynamic  force  of  the  Spirit-informed  and 
Spirit-impelled  preaching  is  due,  then,  to  its  being 
pertinent  to  the  purpose  of  God  and  the  susceptibilities 
of  the  hearer.     The  Spirit,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    163 

through  ApostoHc  lips,  spoke  a  universal  language. 
Every  man  heard,  or  thought  he  heard,  those  men 
speaking  in  the  tongue  in  which  he  was  born.  Even 
so  to-day,  through  the  lips  of  the  minister,  the  Spirit 
speaks  the  native  dialect  of  souls.  Each  hearer  thinks 
himself  addressed.  The  preacher  seems  to  read  his 
very  thoughts  and  to  be  acquainted  with  his  life  ;  nay, 
he  often  interprets  him  to  himself.  He  understands 
now  the  blind  groping  and  dumb  pleading  of  inartic- 
ulate yearnings  and  fears  ;  he  sees  depths  and  heights 
in  his  nature  hitherto  suspected  but  unexplored,  and, 
spell-bound,  he  gazes  wistfully  at  the  preacher  and 
wonders  "whence  hath  this  man  this  knowledge, 
having  never  learned  my  private  history  nor  looked 
into  my  heart  ?  ' ' 

The  man  who  preaches  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  produces  impressions  which  no  mere  eloquence 
can  effect.  Before  that  divine  light  which  radiates 
from  his  word  the  veil  of  darkness  is  rent  from  the 
mind  ;  opposition  to  the  truth  surrenders,  the  frozen 
affections  melt,  the  reluctant  will  awakes  to  action, 
conscience  declares, ' '  I  ought ! ' '  desire  cries, ' '  I  would ! ' ' 
and  the  whole  man  responds,  '  *  I  will  !  ' ' 

The  Holy  Spirit,  like  the  gentle  flow  of  the 
river  of  God's  jpleasures  through  the  soul,  will  impart 
both  to  thought  and  utterance  a  freshness,  liveliness 
and  naturalness  that  make  it  seem  quite  new  and 
original,  like  the  day  dawn  and  the  stars.  In  point 
of  fact,  there  are  few  original  men  in  any  age. 
Goethe  saj-s  pointedly  : 

' '  In  the  world  there   are   many  echoes,  but  not 


164  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN    PREACHING. 

many  voices."  But  even  an  echo  may  be  thrilling  as 
a  celestial  note  if  it  be  that  of  the  Alpine  horn  among 
the  Swiss  heights.  The  straining  after  originality  is 
often  a  pitiful  exhibition  of  vanity.  Nature  is  always 
sufficiently  original,  and  especially  when  washed  in 
fresh  showers, or  rent  by  lightning, or  shaken  by  storms, 
or  bursting  into  springtime.  And  when  the  preach- 
er's soul,  enriched  with  truth  and  awakened  by  med- 
itation, is  further  wrought  upon  by  the  heavenly 
powers,  shot  through  by  the  electric  flashes,  and 
shaken  hy  the  supernatural  energies  of  the  Spirit,  he 
will  speak  a  mightier  message  and  a  newer  gospel 
than  that  of  the  scribes  and  pharisees,  whose  pompous 
platitudes  are  moldy  beneath  their  purple. 

How  to  obtain  spiritual pozver. 

To  obtain  this  power  the  first  step  is  to  render 
honor  to  the  Holy  Spirit. 

We  must  recognize  His  personality  and  true 
Deity.  We  must  honor,  trust  and  adore  Him  as 
possessed  of  all  divine  attributes;  omniscient,  to  know 
all  our  needs;  omnipresent,  so  that  we  do  not  need  to 
search  for  Him  or  wait  for  Him;  omnipotent,  so  that 
nothing  is  beyond  His  power  to  bestow  on  us  or  work 
in  us  or  for  us,  or  in  those  to  whom  we  preach,  so 
that  what  is  impossible  with  men  is  easy  with  Him. 
We  must  think  of  Him  as  the  full  and  exact  repre- 
sentative of  all  that  Christ  was  as  the  Way,  the 
Truth  and  the  Life,  His  specific  function  being  to 
render  vital  the  word  and  effective  the  work  of  Jesus 
Christ:  the  very  soul  of  Christ,  the  living  ful- 
filment of  his  promise:  "  Lo  !  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  age. ' ' 


THE   PSYCHIC    POWKR   OF   THE   HOI.Y  SPIRIT.    165 

It  is  right  for  us,  therefore,  to  address  our 
prayers  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son.  We  should  remind  ourselves  that  all  the  divine 
operations  in  our  hearts,  from  the  moment  of  the  New 
Birth  till  the  entrance  into  Heaven  as  holy  and  victo- 
rous  beings,  are  through  His  power  and  wisdom  and 
love. 

We  must  remind  ourselves  continually  that 
while  it  is  the  ' '  word  of  God  ' '  we  use  as  the  instru- 
ment of  faith,  and  the  Cross  of  Christ  as  the  radiant 
point  of  salvation,  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  make  the 
former  a  liviiig  word  and  the  latter  the  ' '  power  of 
God  unto  salvation. ' '  We  must  never  forget  that  this  is 
the  age  of  the  Spirit's  administration,  and  that  while 
He  glorifies  Christ  we  must  glorify  Him.  We  must  so 
honor  Him  as  to  accept  every  impulsion  given  by  Him 
as  God's  own  action  on  us,  respond  to  His  every 
prompting,  reverently  surrender  our  whole  being  to 
His  possession  and  dominion,  and  so  believe  and  obey 
Him  that  His  unhindered  power  may  work  through  all 
our  powers — the  faculties  of  a  sanctified  body,  soul 
and  spirit. 

Zoroaster  required  his  followers,  the  Persians,  to 
quench  their  fires  from  time  to  time,  and  rekindle 
them  from  burning  coals  in  the  temple  of  the  Sun, 
thereby  reminding  them  that  fire  was  Heaven's  sacred 
g^ft.  And  so  the  preacher  must  daily  renew  at  God's 
altar  the  celestial  flame,  reminding  himself  of  his 
dependence  on  the  heavenly  fire  to  kindle  in  other 
hearts  religious  emotion  and  aspiration. 

To  fulfil  his  mission  to  men  in   the  way   most 


1 66  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

effective,  he  should  cultivate,  also,  a  profound  sense  of 
responsibility.  He  knows  that  faithfulness  to  his 
calling  means  nothing  less  than  the  use  of  talent  raised 
to  its  highest  efl&ciency  and  of  opportunity  to  its  full- 
est extent.  He  knows  that  his  native  powers,  how- 
ever cultivated,  are  utterly  inadequate  ;  that  God  ex- 
pects him  to  avail  himself  of  supernatural  "power 
from  on  high  ;"  has  commanded  him  to  seek  for  it  till 
he  obtain  it. 

lyet  him  get  imbued  with  Paul's  conception  of 
preaching,  for  it  is  the  divine  ideal  for  all  time.  How 
the  Apostle  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  spiritual 
power  !  he  regards  it  as  the  very  esse^ice  and  soul  of 
preaching.  When  Christ  from  the  heavens  commis- 
sioned him,  it  was  to  perform  a  transcendent  and 
supernatural  work,  viz.,  to  "open  the  eyes  of  men 
and  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  unto  God."     (Acts,  xxvi.,  i8.) 

He  had  no  confidence  in  his  mental  grasp,  his 
learning  or  his  zeal.  He  coveted  spiritual  power,  and 
called  men  to  witness  that  his  preaching  was  ' '  not  in 
word  only  but  in  power  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
in  much  assurance."  "  My  speech  and  my  preach- 
ing," says  he,  "were  not  with  enticing  words  of 
man's  wisdom,  but  with  demonstration  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  power,  that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the 
wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God. ' '  And, 
again,  "We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that 
the  excellency  of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not 
of  men." 

And  such  power   is   to  be  felt  rather  than   de- 


THE  PSYCHIC   POWER  OF   THE    HOLY  SPIRIT.    1 67 

scribed  or  analyzed.  It  resides  in,  it  permeates  a 
man's  whole  being  and  the  entire  circle  of  his  activi- 
ties ;  it  cannot  be  localized,  it  cannot  be  identified  ex- 
clusively with  any  one  of  them.  It  is  felt  in  the 
solemn  statements  of  doctrine  and  also  in  the  in- 
formal utterances  of  casual  intercourse  ;  it  is  felt  in 
action  no  less  than  in  language,  in  trivial  acts  no  less 
than  in  heroic  ventures;  it  is  seen  in  the  very  expression 
of  the  countenance:  an  unearthly  beauty, whose  native 
home  is  in  a  higher  world  yet  which  tarries  among 
men  from  age  to  age. 

It  is  nothing  less  than  His  spiritual  presence 
irradiating  upon  His  servants  ;  they  live  in  Him,  they 
lose  something  of  their  proper  personality  ;  they  are 
absorbed  into,  they  are  transfigured  by  a  life  alto- 
gether higher  than  their  own.  His  voice  blends  with 
theirs,  His  hand  gives  gentleness  and  decision  to  their 
acts. 

Importance  of  the  subject. 

The  state  of  Christendom  in  this  twentieth  cen- 
tury reveals,  in  an  impressive  way,  the  vital  and  para- 
mount importance  of  the  subject  we  have  been  discuss- 
ing. The  line  of  cleavage  in  the  visible  church  of  this 
new  era  is  already  manifesting  itself  to  be,  not  the  line 
that  divides  Calvinism  from  Arminianism,  nor  Baptism 
from  Pedobaptism,  nor  Congregational  Independency 
from  Churchly  Conformity,  nor  even  Protestantism  from 
Romanism,  but  the  Imo.  which,  divides  a  spiritual  from 
a  secular  church  and  vmiistry. 

In  one  direction,  men,  both  of  the  pulpit  and  the 
pew,  and  of  all  evangelical  creeds,  are  drawing  together 


1 68  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

in  conference,  study  and  prayer  for  the  development 
of  the  spiritual  life  on  Pentecostal  lines.  In  another 
direction  the  secular  spirit  has  assailed  the  very  chairs 
of  Theology  and  Biblical  Interpretation  in  our  schools ; 
depth  and  earnestness  of  conviction  concerning  the 
mission  and  life-force  of  the  Church  are  retreating 
from  the  pulpits  and  pews  of  many  of  our  popular 
churches,  to  find  a  refuge  and  a  sphere  in  Keswick 
Conferences,  and  Salvation  Army  barracks,  and 
Oriental  Missions  and  Alliances,  and  Orchard  Beach 
Assemblies  and  Christian  Endeavor  movements  and 
others  of  kindred  aims. 

Meantime,  the  assaults  of  skepticism  are  not 
directed,  as  formerly,  against  any  particular  doctrine 
of  the  Bible,  nor  against  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  simply, 
but  against  the  very  existence  of  the  Supernatural. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  last  half  century. 
Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  the  course  of  a  theological 
lecture,  said:  "Fifty  years  hence  the  professors 
of  this  place  will  be  endeavoring  to  prove,  not 
transubstantiation,  but  the  existence  of  God."  He 
foresaw  that  the  battle  of  the  giants  would  be  not 
over  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  but  over  the  primary 
question  whether  there  be  a  spiritual  world  or  a 
personal  Divine  Spirit.  This  seemed  like  a  pessi- 
mistic view  at  the  time,  but  a  broad  survey  of  the 
literature  of  to-day  presents  some  ominous  signs  of  its 
truth. 

In  what  direction  are  we  to  look  for  an  antidote 
to  the  materialistic  spirit  and  trend  of  popular  thought  ? 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER    OF  THE   HOLY  SPIRIT,     1 69 

I  am  profoundly  convinced  that  the  only  sufl&cient 
vindication  and  defense  of  vital  Christianity  and  the 
only  effectual  weapon  of  its  advancing  conquest  is  a 
ministry  endued  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel 
is  the  trustee  of  human  faith  ?  The  place  he  holds  as 
a  social  factor  has  been  secured,  not  from  admiration 
of  his  learning  or  eloquence,  nor  from  his  official 
appointment,  but  because,  first  of  all,  he  stands  in 
every  community  as  a  witness  to  that  divine  instinct 
which  recognizes  in  the  operations  of  nature  and  in 
the  human  soul  and  in  history  the  immanence  and 
sovereignty  of  a  personal  God  He  appeals  to  the 
sense  of  a  higher  and  diviner  reality  in  human  life, 
and  offers  for  man's  satisfaction  spiritual  and  eternal 
verities.  He  appeals  to  the  latent  instinct  and  yearn- 
ing for  immortal  happiness. 

"  Man,"  says  Jacoby,"  is  a  yonder-sided  animal." 
"  Man,"  says  Dr.  Hedge,  "  is  a  yonder-minded  being, 
an  embodied  hereafter."  But  these  are  ideal  con- 
ceptions, lyargely  these  instincts  are  overborne  by 
the  preponderance  of  things  utterly  secular;  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come  have,  in  social  and  business  life, 
been  dethroned. 

The  pulpit  champions  man's  spiritual  nature  and 
eternal  possibilities.  In  the  midst  of  the  turbulent  de- 
mands and  glittering  deceptions  of  the  passing  world  it 
insists  upon  the  claims  of  the  soul  and  of  the  eternal  fu- 
ture. The  preacher  points  to  "  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory"  as  the  heritage  and  privi- 
lege of  men.     He  stands  for  God  as  though  God  did 


lyo  PSYCHIC   POWKR   IN   PREACHING. 

speak  through  him;  and  it  is  his  business  to  justify 
that  claim.  The  stupendous  claims  of  the  preacher  to 
a  commission  from  the  eternal  Throne  and  to  a  right 
of  aid  from  a  supernatural  force  make  it  imperative 
that  he  should  prove  his  credentials  as  the  organ  of 
Divine  influences  by  spiritual  victories  and  trophies. 

The  actual  condition  of  at  least  some  sections  of 
the  Church  and  its  ministry  might  be  represented  in  the 
reply  of  those  Ephesians  to  Paul  :  ' '  We  did  not  so 
much  as  hear  whether  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given.'' 
Rev.  E.  B.  Pusey  in  his  Historical  Enquiry  into  the 
Theology  of  Germany  puts  the  case  in  a  parable  on 
this  wise  : 

"  I  have  heard  how,  once  upon  a  time,  the  Chris- 
tian faith  heard  of  the  threatening  and  formidable  in- 
cursions of  her  foes,  so  she  determined  to  muster  her 
preachers  and  teachers  to  review  their  weapons,  and 
she  found,  beyond  all  her  expectations,  everything 
prepared.  There  was,  namely,  a  vast  host  of  armed 
men  ;  strong,  threatening  forms,  weapons  which  they 
exercised  admirably,  brightly  flashing  from  afar. 
But  as  she  came  near,  she  sunk  almost  into  a  swoon ; 
what  she  thought  iron  and  steel  were  toys ;  the 
swords  were  made  of  the  mere  lead  of  words,  the 
breastplate  of  the  soft  linen  of  pleasure  ;  the  helmet 
of  the  wax  of  plumed  vanity  ;  the  shields,  of  papyrus 
scrolled  over  with  opinions  ;  the  spears,  thin  reeds  of 
weak  conjecture ;  the  cannon,  Indian  reed  ;  the  powder, 
poppy  seeds  ;  the  balls,  of  glass  !  Through  the  in- 
dolent neglect  of  their  leaders,  they  had  sold  her  true 
weapons,  and  had  introduced  these ;  nay,  they  even 


THE   PSYCHIC   POWER   OF   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT.    lyi 

made  her  former  warriors,  whose  armor  of  faithfuhiess 
and  strength  were  proved,  contemptible.  Bitterly  did 
religion  weep  ;  but  the  whole  assembly  bid  her  be  of 
good  cheer  ;  they  would  show  their  faith  to  the  last 
breath.  'What  avails  me,'  she  cried,  'your  faith, 
since  your  adioyis  are  worthless  ?  Of  old,  when  I  led 
naked,  unarmed  combatants  to  the  field,  one  martyr, 
one  warrior  faithful  to  death,  was  worth  more  to  me 
than  a  hundred  of  you  in  your  gilded  and  silvered 
panoplies  !  '  " 

The  parable  interprets  itself  ;  and  while  we  hope 
and  believe  better  things  of  the  Church, so  far  as  some 
portions  of  the  host  of  preachers  and  teachers  are  con- 
cerned, it  is  a  picture  full  of  serious  suggestion.  No 
words  can  picture  the  grandeur  and  solemnity  of  the 
position  of  the  ' '  Ministry  of  Reconciliation. ' '  Oh,  won- 
derful work  !  To  be  the  organ  of  communication  be- 
tween a  holy  and  happy  God  and  unholy  and  unhappy 
men !  To  be  an  active  and  inspired  instrument  in  that 
mysterious  transformation  by  which  the  sons  of  Adam 
become  the  children  of  God;  by  which  a  new  character 
is  communicated  to  men,  crowned  with  infinite  and 
eternal  blessings  ! 

Such  a  work  might  lure  an  archangel  from  his 
seat.  L,et  us  not  fail  to  grasp  this  incomparable 
honor  with  equal  humility  and  avidity  ;  and,  with  in- 
telligent enthusiasm,  seek  by  every  means  to  become 
' '  vessels  unto  honor,  sanctified  and  meet  for  the 
Master's  use  and  prepared  unto  every  good  work." 
(2  Tim.  xi.,  21.) 

With  what  jealousy  should  we  seek  to  be  purged 


172  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN  PREACHING. 

from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  spirit !  How 
should  we  humble  ourselves  to  be  the  least  of  all  men 
in  our  poverty  of  spirit,  simply  ambitious  to  love  and 
to  labor  for  them.  Fervently,  patiently  and  persist- 
ently let  us  press  toward  the  Cross  till,  winding  our 
arms  about  it  and  clinging  there,  bathed  in  its  glory 
and  thrilled  by  its  life,  we  shall  carry  into  our  work  a 
perennial  and  pentecostal  power. 


Unrealized  Ideals 


CHAPTER   XI 


Unrealized  Ideals 

THK  ideal  and  the  real  in  the  preacher's  work  are 
apparently  separated  by  a  great  gulf;  but  they 
should  never  be  regarded  as  contrasted.  Strictly 
the  ideal  is  the  conceived  and  vital,  yet  unborn  or  un- 
developed real.  It  is  the  real  not  yet  incarnated  into 
the  actual — hovering  as  a  beckoning  angel  in  the 
horizon. 

The  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  beyond  any  other 
calling,  suggests  to  each  aspirant  a  sublimated  life  and 
work.  The  minister  who  possesses  the  apostolic  call, 
impulse  and  aim;  whose  devout  soul  is  seized  upon  bj^ 
the  lambent  flame  of  religious  enthusiasm,  evolves  some 
infinitely  fair  creation,  and  hope  points  to  its  full  real- 
ization, at  least  in  the  distant  years. 

What  true  preacher  at  middle  life  does  not  recall 
the  fair  portraiture  of  the  man,  the  ambassador  from 
heaven,  the  shepherd  of  Christ's  flock,  which  adorned 
in  earlier  years  the  picture  gallery  of  his  imagination  ? 
What  a  noble  picture  it  was!  How  pure  from  earthly 
stain!  how  full  of  seraphic  fervor!  how  brave  and  un- 
selfish in  service,  wedded  to  noble  poverty!  how  happy 
in  simplicity  of  motive  and  zeal  in  action!  how  digni- 
fied in  humble  bearing !  how  salutary  and  loving  in  con- 
versation with  men !  how  intimate  and  constant  in  com- 
munion with  God!     With  mind  spiritually  illumined, 

173 


174  PSYCHIC   POWER  IN   PREACHING. 

soul  rapt  into  eloquent  utterance  by  the  sublimities  of 
your  theme,  with  voice  modulated  to  the  thunders  of 
rebuke,  the  pathos  of  entreaty  and  the  clarion  tones 
of  triumphant  faith,  you  saw  yourself  standing  before 
eager  and  silent  throngs,  an  apostle  of  God  confessed! 
Such  was  the  ideal.  Alas!  how  far  distant,  as  yet,  we 
are  from  its  full-rounded  realization!  In  truth,  to  most 
men,  for  all  their  early  dreaming,  middle  life  reveals  a 
rather  commonplace  reality;  and  inspiration,  with 
broken  wing,  limps  painfully  along,  with  growing 
sense  of  dissatisfaction,  through  failure  to  apprehend 
that  for  which  we  were  apprehended  of  Christ  as  his 
ministers. 

IV/iy  have  we  not  attamed  our  ideal? 
If  we  can  answer  that  question,  there  is  hope  of  some 
higher  character  and  work  still  left  for  us.  Doubtless  the 
causes  of  disappointment  are  many,  and  do  not  all  exist 
in  any  one  case.  The  idealist  in  any  form  of  merely 
earthly  aim  is  doomed  to  disappointment;  for  life,  if 
divorced  from  the  spiritual  and  eternal,  is  essentially 
illusive.  In  so  far  as  its  pivotal  point  is  self  and  its 
horizon  earth,  life  is  a  vain  show,  a  dance  of  shadows, 
an  eager  chase  of  mocking  and  receding  beauties. 
Could  we  personify  the  noblest  ideal  of  the  merely 
"natural  man,"  we  should  need  to  include  in  the  pic- 
ture a  viper  sleeping  in  his  bosom,  destined  to  waken 
one  time  or  other,  and  a  cypress  wreath  upon  his  brow, 
be  that  brow  lifted  never  so  proudly.  Let  a  true  genius 
conceive  a  sublime  ideal,  let  him  seek  to  reproduce  it, 
you  will  hear  him  mourn  over  his  failures.  His  efforts 
will,  perhaps,  produce  something  admirable;  they  will 


UNREALIZED   IDEAI.S.  175 

satisfy  everybody  but'  himself.  He  will  be  like  the 
greatest  poet  of  Rome  commanding  that  his  immortal 
work  be  burned  at  his  death;  like  St.  Cecilia  break- 
ing her  musical  instrument  when  she  hears  in  the  dis- 
tance the  chorus  of  angels. 

But  the  ideal  of  the  man  whose  life  is  hid  wdth 
Christ  ifl  God,  and  who  has  become  a  partaker  of  the 
divine  nature,  cannot  be  too  lofty  or  radiant  in  moral 
features — nor  has  it  any  inherent  element  of  decay  or 
ultimate  disappointment,  for  "  He  shall  perfect  that 
which  concerneth  us."  Truly  the  function  and  aim  of 
the  minister  of  Christ  is  essentially  and  immeasurably 
grand  : 

"  It  well  might  fill  an  angel's  heart. 
It  filled  the  Saviour's  hands." 

It  has  in  it  all  the  features  of  immortal  worth  and 
beauty.  In  it  there  is  scope  for  unlimited  development 
in  every  affection  and  faculty.  Its  object  overtops  all 
others,  its  motives  blend  the  human  and  divine,  its 
force  combines  the  finest  elements  of  native  eloquence 
with  the  unction  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

So  long  as  it  transcends  not  the  pattern  outlined 
for  us  in  the  Scriptures,  there  is  nothing  in  the  ideal 
of  Christly  or  Apostolic  character  and  service,  as 
painted  by  the  most  fervid  fancy,  that  can  outreach  a 
reasonable  and  practical  attainment.  It  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  sphere  of  actual  experience  without 
dimming  its  luster  or  shrinking  its  symmetrical  propor- 
tions. Concrete  illustrations  of  such  actualized  ideals 
are  seen  in  a  Paul,  a  Chrysostom,  a  St.  Francis,  a 
Chalmers,  a  Wesley,  a  Baxter,  a  Martyn,  a  Judson,  a 


176  PSYCHIC    POWER    IN   PREACHING. 

Gordon,  and  others  well  known  to  history,  together 
with  many  a  man  beyond  his  parish  unknown  save  to 
the  recording  angel.  Luminous  witnesses  these,  shin- 
ing sentinel  characters  all  along  the  Church's  history, 
telling  that  the  real  ministry  may  closely  approximate 
the  ideal. 

Why,  then,  do  most  of  us  fall  strangely  short  of  it  ? 

Perhaps  our  portraiture  has  not  been  drawn  from  a 
divine  model,  7ior  frotn  any  it  ne  standard,  but  is  simply 
the  outgrowth  of  egotis^n  and  woiddly  ambition. 

Consider  that  disappointed  and  misanthropic 
genius  Dore,  whose  illustrations  have  won  for  him  a 
wide,  if  not  an  exalted  reputation.  Starting  with  a  sen- 
sitive organization  and  tender  affections,  he  became  the 
victim  of  ambition  for  praise  as  a  painter  in  oil.  It 
was  characteristic  of  him  to  ignore  model  and  law,  and 
to  develop  his  powers  according  to  his  own  capricious 
fancy,  exclaiming,  "  My  mind  is  my  model  for  every- 
thing!"' His  egotism  led  him  to  think  no  laudation 
could  exceed  his  merit.  He  sought  to  startle  the 
world  by  the  number  and  variety  of  his  original  con- 
ceptions and  the  rapidity  of  his  execution.  He  aimed 
to  cause  a  sensation  and  secure  a  medal  from  the 
French  Academy.  He  caused  a  sensation,  he  failed 
to  gain  the  medal,  and  he  died  of  a  broken  heart. 
Might  not  his  ambition  and  his  failure  find  many  a 
parallel  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry  ?  Bach  of  us 
knows  some  man  now  living  and  scarcely  gray-headed 
whose  once  tender  and  aspiring  soul  has  been  embit- 
tered, whose  passion  for  greatness,  or  at  least  popu- 
larity, has  scorched  the  freshness  out  of  his  affections. 


UNREALIZED  IDKAI^S.  177 

who  is  growing  prematurely  old  and  fretful.  He  has 
abandoned  hope,  because  success  eluded  him;  and  has 
it  not  been  because  his  ideal  was  a  brilliant  vanity  ? 

The  men  are  not  few  whose  ideal  is  intellectual 
ascendenc}^  literary  culture  and  distinction.  The 
spiritual  and  sacrificial  elements  are  absent  from  their 
conception.  But  a  preacher  had  better  toil  in  ob- 
scurity with  only  mother- wit,  practical  sympathy,  an 
English  Bible  and  the  teaching  Spirit  to  show  him  how 
to  work  for  his  fellowmen  than  to  mount  to  a  con- 
spicuous and  aesthetic  ministry  in  which  onlj^  the  cul- 
tured class  shall  know  or  care  about  him. 

The  divine,  Christly  ideal  of  the  ministry  brings  us 
into  service  for  the  whole  people.  An  ideal  ministry 
makes  talent,  scholarship,  refinement,  superiority  of 
every  sort  a  debt  to  the  world,  rather  than  a  luxury  or 
an  ornament.  "Not  an  act  of  Christ's  life,  nor  a 
word  from  his  lips,  gives  any  evidence  that  he  would 
have  tolerated  the  awful  anomaly  of  clerical  life  in 
which  a  man  ministers  placidly  in  a  palatial  church  to 
none  but  elect  and  gilded  hearers,  with  all  the  para- 
phernalia of  elegance  around  him,  and  with  culture 
expressed  in  the  very  fragrance  of  the  atmosphere, 
while  '  Five  Points '  and  '  Boweries  '  are  growing 
up  uncared  for  by  any  labor  of  his,  within  hearing  of 
his  organ  and  quartette."     (Prof.  Phelps.) 

Sometimes  an  apostolic  man  revolts  at  the  very 
popularity  and  position  which  his  genius  has  brought 
him.  Hear  Robertson  of  Brighton,  that  man  the  most 
distinguished  of  his  generation  as  a  preacher,  saying: 
"  I  wish  I  did  not  hate  preaching  so  much;  the  degra- 


178  PSYCHIC   POWER   IN   PREACHING. 

dation  of  being  a  '  Brighton  preacher '  is  almost  in- 
tolerable. I  cannot  dig;  to  beg  I  am  ashamed;  but  I 
think  there  is  not  a  hard-working  artisan  who  in  his 
work  does  not  seem  to  be  a  worthier  and  higher  being 
than  myself.  I  do  not  depreciate  spiritual  work.  I 
hold  it  higher  than  secular.  But  how  humiliated  and  how 
degraded  to  the  dust  I  have  felt  in  perceiving  myself 
quietly  taken  by  God  and  men  for  the  popular  preacher 
of  a  fashionable  watering-place;  how  slight  the  power 
seems  to  be  given  by  it  of  winning  souls,  and  how 
sternly  I  have  kept  my  tongue  from  saying  a  syllable 
or  a  sentence  in  pulpit  or  on  platform,  because  it  would 
be  popular!"  This  is  from  the  man  who  has  been 
called  the  Arnold  of  the  English  pulpit. 

With  some  men,  while  their  ideal  may  have  been 
noble,  failure  to  realize  it  is  to  be  traced  to  mental  or 
physical  indolence,  or  both;  to  dreaminess  or  vagrancy 
of  habit,  or,  what  is  worse,  to  moral  cowardice.  There 
may  be  a  sentimental  yearning  for  ideal  excellence.  In 
fond  rever}^  the  poetic  temperament  imagines  a  career 
and  character  invested  with  the  noblest  features;  but 
the  nerveless  will  does  not  impel  to  action,  self-indul- 
gence procrastinates,  and  the  heart,  enamored  with  its 
own  emotions,  lolls  on  its  pillow  of  dreams  when  it 
should  be  patiently  plodding  toward  its  goal. 

A  pleasant  nest  and  popularity  following  in  the 
wake  of  talent,  a  comfortable  income  and  a  loving 
family,  the  luxury  of  desultory  reading  and  the  lounge 
with  congenial  friends,  all  combine  to  cool  the  fervid 
glow  of  spiritual  aspiration  and  weaken  the  high  reso- 


UNREAIJ7,];i)  IL)KA1,S.  179 

lution  to  climb  to  a  unique  and  original  superiority  in 
character  and  work.  Sometimes  an  environment  of 
sheer  worldly  cares,  the  coarse  necessity  of  making  a 
small  salary  support  a  large  family  with  liberal  tastes, 
anxieties  arising  from  the  crookedness  of  parishioners, 
or  the  total  depravity  of  things  that  cannot  be  made  to 
go  right  in  church  life,  and,  perhaps,  physical  maladies 
or  family  sorrows — all  may  prevail  to  chill  our  enthusi- 
asm, and  turn  our  Pegasus  into  the  wingless  toiler  on 
the  tow-path. 

Perhaps  the  spirit  and  example  of  the  people  by 
whom  we  are  surrounded,  their  pell-mell  chase  for 
material  wealth,  and  luxury,  and  ease,  for  condition 
rather  than  character;  the  social  atmosphere  of  the 
conceited,  commonplace  and  uninspiring  men,  even  in 
the  ministerial  office,  with  whom  we  are  thrown  in 
contact,  tend  to  lower  us  to  their  level  and  generate  a 
secret  skepticism  as  to  the  reasonableness  of  our  ideal. 
We  learn  to  doubt  whether  its  attainment  is  practicable 
for  us  ;  and  if  so,  whether  the  world  wants  such  char- 
acters or  could  appreciate  them  ;  and  so  we  grow  shy 
of  the  romantic,  and  suspicious  of  our  guardian-angel, 
who  may  yet  be  beckoning  us  on  to  spiritual  superi- 
ority. 

Another  reason  is  our  instinctive  dread  of  loneli- 
ness. We  are  too  gregarious.  We  shrink  from  that 
solitude  of  life  and  of  spirit  which  separates  all  great 
and  lofty  souls  from  the  multitude.  True,  the  man  cf 
large  and  noble  and  original  nature  knows  his  kind, 
and  lives  with  them  as  the  ordinary  man  does  not  and 
cannot.     The  mountain   is   an   integral  part  of   the 


l8o  PSYCHIC  POWER  IN  PREACHING. 

landscape,  a  familiar  and  beneficent  factor  of  its 
beauty,  dignity,  fertility  and  wealth  ;  but  its  cloud- 
piercing  peak,  even  when  surrounded  by  other  peaks, 
must  always  be  solitary. 

A  great  work  of  art  has  something  incommuni- 
cable about  it.  In  every  high,  ideal  experience  there 
is  a  sense  of  loneliness ;  the  distance  it  is  removed 
from  the  common  standards  and  methods  is  clearly 
marked  by  the  deepening  consciousness  of  isolation, 
loss  of  companionship  and  sense  of  human  sympathy 
from  those  for  whom  we  really  live  and  labor  as  well 
as  from  our  comrades  in  the  ministry.  In  the  silent 
solitude  where  only  heaven  and  the  Divine  presence 
environ  the  soul,  one  must  be  content  to  dwell  as  far  as 
his  deepest  feelings  are  concerned. 

It  was  there  Christ  dwelt.  But  most  men  tire  of 
that  solitude  even  for  an  hour.  They  hunger  for 
companionship  ;  their  eyes,  instead  of  peering  within 
the  veil  to  see  God's  face,  yearn  for  the  familiar  faces 
of  men.  The}^  seek  books,  newspapers,  periodicals, 
clubs,  assemblies,  society  ;  and  like  those  angels  of 
the  vision  who  ' '  when  they  stood  upon  the  earth  let 
down  their  wings,"  the  soul  loses  its  power  of  flight, 
treads  the  level  of  ordinary  men  and  adapts  itself  to 
their  standards. 

Sometimes  our  ideal  is  not  attained  because  its 
salient  features  are  adapted  to  an  obsolete  order  of 
things,  or  a  foreign  environme^it.  The  susceptible 
student  finds  in  the  seminar}^  library  the  memoirs 
and  works  of  a  Chrysostom,  Pascal,  Savonarola, 
Knox,    I^acordaire,    Pastor    Harms,    McCheyne,    or 


UNREALIZED  IDEALS.  l8l 

Henry  Martyn,  and  he  is  fascinated.  From  one  or 
all  he  selects  features  which  he  combines  in  his  model 
preacher  and  pastor.  But  his  attempts  to  train  his 
thought  and  feehng  to  journey  along  the  way  of  their 
"diaries,"  or  later  on,  to  work  upon  their  methods, 
to  train  his  flock  to  the  church  life  they  diffused,  or 
to  dare  enterprises  to  which  they  were  impelled,  all 
fail.  His  preaching  in  their  style,  dealing  with  phases 
of  thought  and  habits  of  life  prevalent  with  the  people 
to  whom  they  ministered,  proves  to  be,  in  large  part, 
beating  the  air. 

He  lives  in  a  different  age';  new  kinds  of  temp- 
tation, new  forms  of  social  life,  have  to  be  dealt  with  ; 
the  church  to  which  he  is  attached  has  other  tradi- 
tions and  usages  ;  other  issues  have  arisen,  and  new 
adaptations  to  the  actual  wants  of  the  people  must 
follow.  In  his  pulpit  the  splendid  orations  of  a  Bos- 
suet  or  Jeremy  Taylor,  the  stately  movement  of  a 
Robert  Hall  or  Chalmers,  are  found  as  incongruous 
and  worthless  to  him  as  was  the  armor  of  Saul  to  the 
stripling  David.  It  is  well  for  him  that  he  has  not 
attained  his  ideal  in  such  a  case,  for  if  successful,  it 
would  only  be  to  find  himself  out  of  harmony  with  his 
period,  and  a  mystic,  or  a  philosopher,  or  a  controver- 
sialist in  an  age  and  among  a  people  who  require  a 
man  and  preacher  adapted  to  their  real  life  and  current 
thinking  and  suffering  and  struggle.  There  are  some 
triumphant  defeats  of  which  victory  herself  might  be 
proud. 

But  when  our  ideal  is  just  and  in  harmony  with 
our  native  talents  and  mental  make-up,  then  we  are 


l82  PSYCHIC  POWER  IN  PREACHING. 

to  cherish  and  guard  it  from  decay;  we  must  stienuously 
keep  our  souls  alive  to  its  pursuit,  we  must  not  lose 
our  faith  in  its  attainment  : 

' '  To  doubt  would  be  disloyalty, 
To  falter  would  be  sin." 

Regarding  the  oft-despised  "  air  castle,"  Emerson 
said  :  ' '  Build  your  castle  in  the  air  ;  where  else 
should  castles  be  built  ?  Only  see  to  it  that  you  put 
foundations  under  it."  Cloud-built  towers,  piled  up 
by  winds  and  adorned  by  sunbeams,  will  fade  when 
the  sun  sets,  and  fall  into  wreck  when  the  next  breeze 
strikes  them  ;  but  ideals  of  character  and  life-work 
have  no  such  airy  genesis.  They  are  children  of  the 
heart  and  intellect,  and  that,  too,  when  the  affections 
of  the  soul  are  healthy  and  normal,  unwearied  and 
unsophisticated  ;  yes,  they  are  oft  begotten  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  They  are  essential  to  the  best  develop- 
ment of  character  and  the  fairest,  noblest  forms  of 
service. 

Mere  ambition  for  the  rewards  of  success  will  lead 
to  unspiritual  tone,  narrowness  of  sympathy  and  a 
distortion  of  moral  symmetry.  For  all  that  is  most 
valuable  and  enduring  in  life,  we  must  be  carried 
above  ourselves  by  some  inspiring  example  or  con- 
ception of  the  virtues  in  transfiguration  ;  some  pure, 
uplifting  aim  must  be  kept  like  a  pole  star  constantly 
before  us. 

Let  the  minister  not  forget  to  read  the  memoirs 
of  the  great  and  consecrated  souls  that  have  adorned 
the  Church,  the  higher  illuviinati  whose  biography 
and  work,  whose  struggles  and  victories,  have  rescued 


UNREALIZED  IDEALS.  1 83 

human  nature  itself  from  ignominj^  have  made  the 
Church  revered  by  thinking  men,  and  constrained  us 
thankfully  to  say,  as  we  studied  their  portraits,  "I, 
too,  am  a  minister  of  the  Gospel." 

To  attain  our  ideal  we  must  resist  secular,  even 
literary,  scientific,  or  literary  seductions.  The  world, 
even  in  its  higher  forms  of  socialist,  political  or 
aesthetic  philosophies,  is  not  to  be  led  by  following  it. 
Social  philosophers  in  this  day  are  busy  in  their  en- 
deavors to  build  up  society  without  God.  The 
prophet  in  the  pulpit  must  insist  on  Christ  as  the 
foundation  stone  and  chief  master-builder,  and  work  by 
His  plans  and  with  His  materials. 

In  his  naturalistic  and  materialistic  environments 
the  preacher's  soul  is  exposed  to  several  forms  of 
temptation  to  lower  his  standard.  A  dreary  sense  of 
unreality  sometimes  steals  over  him.  He  is  dealing 
with  things  unseen,  with  powers  intangible  by  the 
senses.  If  he  is  of  a  sensitive  nature,  with  variable 
temperament,  he  will  sometimes  be  startled  and 
shocked  to  find  himself  preaching  what  he  does  not 
fully  believe,  or  is  not  sure  that  he  has  experienced. 
As  an  ambassador,  he  cannot  have  an  invariable  im- 
perative ;  or  as  a  herald,  a  constant  enthusiasm ;  he 
cannot  see  nor  hear  much  of  the  fruits  of  his  work. 

Is  it  strange  that  he  is  sometimes  overwhelmed 
with  a  fear  of  its  unreality  ?  That  he  reaches  after 
something  tangible, perhaps  social  problems  ?  But  this  is 
not  preaching.  It  is  not  enough  that  his  teaching  be 
true;  his  work  is  to  hold  forth  7evealed\xvi\}sx,  spiritual 
facts  and  forces.     And  there  can  be  no  greater  mis- 


r84  PSYCHIC  POWER  IN  PREACHING. 

take  than  to  suppose  that  spiritual  preaching  is  ideal, 
but  not  practical.  Preaching  is  most  practical  when 
it  is  most  spiritual. 

"With  all  the  sordidness  of  the  times,"  says  a 
great  living  preacher,  ' '  the  preachers  that  have  been 
the  most  powerful  have  been  the  most  spiritual." 
We  must  seek  to  regain  the  sense  of  reality  by  a  clearer 
vision  and  firmer  grasp  of  essential  spiritual  verities. 
The  preacher  who  seeks  reality  by  preaching  secular- 
ities,  however  true,  will  not  find  the  reality  of  preach- 
ing. 

Your  ideal,  my  earnest  yet  discouraged  brother, 
is  not  yet  actualized  in  your  experiences  !  Well, 
remember  there  is,  after  all,  something  to  be  glad  of 
even  in  that.  Thorwalsden,  it  is  said,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  his  finest  work  surveyed  it  with  a  feeling  of 
sadness  from  the  very  fact  that  it  satisfied  him. 
That  exquisite  genius,  that  severe  critic  of  himself, 
could  see  nothing  to  be  improved,  and  he  interpreted 
the  fact  as  a  token  that  his  talent  had  reached  its 
culmination,  and  that  henceforth  the  fires  of  aspira- 
tion would  begin  to  pale.  Doubtless  there  is  a 
secret,  providential  reason  for  the  fact  that  your  ideal 
still  eludes  your  grasp.  Faith  and  Hope  must  have 
a  distant  goal,  or  fall  asleep  in  bowers  of  ease  and  self- 
sufficiency. 

Hence  it  has  been  said  :  "In  our  life  there  is 
always  some  dream  yet  to  be  fulfilled.  We  have  not 
come  to  the  point  which  we  feel  sure  has  yet  to  be 
reached.  Thus  God  lures  us  from  year  to  year  up 
the   steep   hills   and   along  roads  flat  and  cheerless. 


UNREALIZED  IDEALS.  185 

Presently,  we  think  the  dream  will  come  true  ;  pres- 
ently— in  one  moment  more — to-morrow  at  latest ; 
and,  as  the  years  rise  and  fall,  the  hope  abiding  in  the 
heart  and  singing  with  tender  sweetness,  then  the 
end, the  weary  sickness, the  farewell,  the  last  breath — 
and  the  dream  that  was  to  have  shaped  itself  on  earth 
welcomes  us,  as  the  angel  that  guarded  our  life,  into 
the  fellowship  of  heaven."* 

This,  which  was  written  of  life's  ideal  in  general, 
is  intensely  true  of  the  minister's  hope.  No  loftiest 
spirit  in  the  Church's  history  of  heroes  ever  thought 
he  had  reached  his  ideal ;  the  noblest  and  most  unsel- 
fish mourned  to  the  last  their  failure  ;  but  each  holy 
and  prayerful  effort  brings  us  nearer  to  our  goal. 

In  conclusion,  the  Divine-Human  Ideal,  for  all 
time  and  for  all  Gospel  heralds,  is  Jesus  Christ  himself. 
What  simple  pathos  in  that  word,  "  //<?  went  through 
all  their  cities  and  villages  preaching  the  Gospel!'''  How 
near  that  picture  brings  him  to  us!  His  character, 
spirit  and  methods  as  a  preacher  are  clearly  drawn; 
they  are  as  inimitable  as  they  are  transcendent,  and 
they  may  be  wrought  in  us  through  the  habitual,  ador- 
ing contemplation  of  him. 

In  the  life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assissi — of  whom 
Ernest  Renan  said,  "  There  have  been  but  two  Chris- 
tians, Jesus  and  St.  Francis" — there  is  a  touching 
illustration  of  this  impregnation  of  the  soul  with 
Christ.  This  truly  apostolic  preacher,  wedded  to  Pov- 
erty and  expended  in  I,ove  as  a  herald  of  the  Cross,  in 
his  ungodly  j'outh,  while  sadly  seeking  rest  and  purity, 


*  Dr.  Joseph  Parker. 


I  86  PSYCHIC  POWER  IN  PREACHING. 

once  visited  the  church  of  St.  Daraian,  among  theUm- 
briaii  hills,  in  the  midst  of  a  cypress  wood.  Dilapi- 
dated and  served  by  a  poor  priest  who  had  scarcely  the 
wherewithal  for  necessary  food,  the  chapel  contained 
naught  but  a  stone  altar  and  a  picture  of  the  Crucifixion. 
The  Crucified  One,  bearing  an  expression  of  ineffable 
calm  and  gentleness,  instead  of  closing  the  eyelids  in 
eternal  surrender  to  the  weight  of  suffering,  looked 
down  in  self-forgetfulness,  and  its  pure,  clear  gaze 
seemed  to  say,  "  Come  unto  me." 

Before  this  poor  altar  Francis  prayed:  ' '  Great  and 
glorious  God,  and  thou,  L,ord  Jesus,  I  pray  ye  shed 
abroad  your  light  in  the  darkness  of  my  mind.  Be 
found  of  me,  Lord,  so  that  in  all  things  I  act  only  in 
accordance  with  Thy  holy  will." 

Thus  he  prayed;  and,  behold!  little  by  little  it 
seemed  to  him  that  his  gaze  could  not  detach  itself 
from  that  of  Jesus;  he  felt  something  marvelous  tak- 
ing place  in  and  around  him.  The  sacred  victim  took 
on  life,  and  in  the  outward  silence  he  was  aware  of  a 
voice  speaking  to  him  an  ineffable  language.  Jesus 
accepted  his  oblation,  and  the  heart  of  the  poor  soli- 
tary was  already  bathed  in  light  and  strength.  This 
vision  marked  his  triumph.  His  union  with  Christ 
was  consummated;  from  that  time  he  could  exclaim, 
with  the  mystics  of  every  age,  "  My  beloved  is  mine, 
and  I  am  his!"  From  that  day  the  love  which  had 
triumphed  in  the  crucified  One  became  the  very  centre 
of  his  religious  life,  and,  as  it  were,  the  soul  of  his 
soul. 

Thus  must   the  vision  of  Christ's  sacrificial  love 


UNREALIZED  IDEALS.  187 

for  men  become  incorporated  in  the  being  of  every 
one  who  would  fully  enter  into  the  fellowship  of 
Christ's  work  for  souls.  This  direct,  intimate  and 
enduring  contact  with  Jesus  is  realized  when  belief 
rises  into /a////,  that  living  and  life-imparting  faith 
which  Vinet  has  so  well  defined:  "To  believe  is  to 
look;  it  is  a  serious,  attentive  and  prolonged  look;  a 
look  more  simple  than  that  of  observation,  a  look  which 
looks  and  nothing  more;  artless,  infantine,  it  has  all 
the  soul  in  it;  it  is  a  look  of  the  soul  and  not  of  the 
mind — a  look  which  does  not  seek  to  analyze  its  object, 
but  receives  it  as  a  whole  into  the  soul  through  the 
eyes. 

This  habitual  look  of  the  soul  upon  the  Cruci- 
fied, this  mysterious  but  sympathetic  communion  with 
the  compassionate  victim,  will  gradually  impress,  if 
not  on  hands  and  feet  and  side  (as  in  St.  Francis), 
yet  on  the  heart  and  life  of  the  preacher,  the  ' '  Stig- 
mata ' '  of  self-renunciation  and  sacrifice  which  is  the 
minister's  ideal.  The  more  we  abide  with  Christ  in 
the  wilderness  and  mountains,  and  even  in  Gethsemane, 
the  more  will  His  divine  manliness  grow  in  us.  We 
shall  break  away  from  narrow  and  outgrown  models, 
become  morally  grand  and  strong,  and  move  with  free- 
dom and  world-wide  sympathies;  the  psj'chic  energy 
of  which  we  have  spoken  will  become  the  natural  life 
of  our  ministry,  the  outflow  of  pathos  and  power  from 
every  feature  and  faculty,  from  heart  and  voice  and 
eye  and  hand,  will  reveal  "a.  prince  having  power 
with  God  and  men." 

Enter  with  me  this  humble  monastery  in  Milan 


l88  PSYCHIC  POWER  IN  PREACHING. 

and  stand  before  this  picture,  which,  after  hundreds  of 
years,  still  retains  an  infinite  charm.  While  artists 
are  copying  and  pilgrims  are  gazing,  listen  to  the  lesson 
of  its  origin.  A  great  master  conceived  its  design  and 
prepared  its  outline,  but  under  the  burden  of  age  de- 
cided to  commit  the  work  to  a  beloved  pupil.  The 
young  artist,  counting  the  work  far  bej'ond  his  talent 
and  experience,  cried:  "  I  cannot,  master;  the  work  is 
too  august,  too  high  for  my  powers;  no  one  but  your- 
self could  complete  such  a  design."  "I  commit  this 
work  to  thee,  my  son.     Do  thy  best." 

To  all  the  youth's  protestation  the  old  man's  re- 
ply was:  "Begin,  my  son,  and  do  thy  best."  The 
youth,  trembling  but  devout,  prepared  his  palette  and 
took  the  brush,  and,  kneeling  before  the  appointed 
work,  praj^ed:  "  It  is  for  thy  sake,  beloved  Master.  I 
implore  God  for  skill,  patience  and  courage  to  perform 
the  task  thou  hast  given  me. ' '  Then  with  swelling 
heart  he  began  the  work.  From  day  to  day  the 
master  viewed  the  work,  bestowing  cheer  and  counsel. 
The  pupil's  hand  grew  steadier,  delight  in  his  theme 
increased,  slumbering  genius  stirred  and  woke  in  his 
soul,  and  fear  was  lost  in  reverent  enthusiasm.  At 
length  the  work  was  finished,  and  the  master  gazed 
upon  it.  Bursting  into  tears  and  embracing  his  pupil, 
he  exclaimed:   "  My  son,  I  paint  no  more!  " 

Such  is  the  tradition  of  ' '  The  Last  Supper, ' '  the 
masterpiece  of  that  greatest  of  religious  painters,  Leo- 
nardo da  Vinci. 

Oh,  preacher  of  the  Gospel!  The  Master  has  com- 
mitted to  thy  hand  the  sublime  and  yet  simple  work  of 


UNREAI^IZED  IDEALS.  1 89 

reproducing  His  own  life  and  mission  in  the  world,  and 
His  own  image  upon  the  hearts  of  men.  To  all  thy 
fears  he  answers,  ' '  Do  thy  best,  my  son. ' '  Humbly  and 
faithfully  toiling  under  the  great  Master- Workman's 
eye,  thy  highest  aspirations  shall  be  more  than  realized 
in  the  fulfilment  of  that  promise,  ' '  They  that  turn 
many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars  for  ever 
and  ever. ' ' 

THE   END. 


Date  Due 

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